A US company has linked an intravenous medication pump with a handheld computer. It enables patients to check the amount of painkiller they get, recording the dosage amounts and times for further analysis by clinicians.
A US company has linked an intravenous medication pump with a handheld computer. It enables patients to check the amount of painkiller they get, recording the dosage amounts and times for further analysis by clinicians.
Medtronic SynchromedMedtronic developed its PTM (Personal Therapy Manager) because of doctors suggestions. The device, based on a Palm Handspring, is connected via a wireless link to a SynchroMed - a system of drug infusion that delivers medicines through catheter to the spinal cord. It is suitable for patients who suffer from chronic pain, and it costs up to $50,000 ($25,000).
According to Dr Stephen Oesterie, senior vice-president for medicine and technology at Medtronic, “Pain is very subjective. Only the patient is the best judge of chronic pain intensity.” - he told BusinessWeek magazine.
“We hadn’t thought of a patient controller for the SynchroMed previously,” stated Tom Valine, Medtronic’s senior product manager. “But the physicians overwhelmingly urged us to create one.”
Software on the PTM encourages patients to show what level of pain they are feeling, either by putting it on a scale of 0 to 10 or by choosing a happy or a sad face. Medicines that are delivered - are recorded.
In order to preclude overdose, the patient’s physician can set the highest number of extra doses which can be given above prescribed ones. The patient’s dosage routine can be monitored without delay because data can be downloaded wirelessly to a physician’s computer.
Medtronic chose the Palm device because it was in commonly used and familiar. It has been modified by the installation of the dosage software as well as a wireless transmitter at the top, and doesn’t function as a PDA. However, Medtronic claims that functioning mobile devices which can interface with medical devices are not so distant.
Kevin Young, head of industrial design at a healthcare device development company - Design Continuum - told the BusinessWeek magazine: “Before, serious medical tools had the feel and look of ‘Don’t touch me, because you don’t have the background or education to use this equipment’.”
Medtronic is an old international medical technology company, with a 50-year history. They were responsible for inventing the first wearable pacemaker, a device based on a metronome, in 1957 at a paediatrics clinic in Minnesota. Medtronic, the company active in the UK, produces cardiology devices.
