Mike Brinker: My Medical Binge

January 14, 2004

My Medical Binge

I have recently had a dream that is very pertinent to what I am studying, although it is quite personal and relates only to our dream assignment. Click on the link below to get a brief description.

I'm mostly into games, but lately I have been on a medical problem solving kick. Here is the backstory that relates to my project that I want to do for my thesis, at least for right now.

Project Back Story: I actually thought of this idea around the 22nd of December 2003 sometime, possibly earlier. Christmas was a mix of emotions this year. My Aunt Elizabeth wound up in the hospital, my next door neighbor's cancer condition worsened and my roommate is moving out. Anyway, Liz's condition revolved around potassium levels from her current blood pressure medication, which had changed recently, I believe about a week prior to the incident. She began to have dizzy spells and her heart rate dropped significantly. I think my other Aunt phone 9-1-1 first, much to the dismay of my Grandmother. As the paramedics arrived, they immediately began their examination and started to collect information. Much to my surprise, no one could answer many of the questions asked concerning current medication, history and vital stats. My great Aunt (Elizabeth) is 86 and lives on her own. She generally talks to my grandmother on a weekly basis, but thats about it. Most of the questions the paramedics asked were directed towards Liz, but she was in no shape to answer them and my grandmother was farely scatterbrained because of the incident. I immediately thought that there had to be a better way for the paramedics to automatically get some sort of current medicinal status and physical information from her without having to bombard her (conscious or unconscious) with questions.

Dream: I have been worried about my neighbor back home. She is a sweet person, middle aged and a math teacher. One of the best teachers I have ever had, and I don't hand that compliment out very much, if at all. She has cancer, and it's pretty much taken over her entire body. Very not cool. In my dream, I remember walking down the street past my house and theirs. I noticed a long line of people coming out of their front door. Everyone was crying and very sad. Next I remember walking down a long flight of stairs. As I walked down, another person came up toward me. It was her son, and he was upset. I gave him a hug and we both cried. Thats all I remember.

This whole issue with my Aunt however, warrants a project. Somehow their needs to be an imbedded device for both the paramedics and patient. The one in the patient emits a field of data that contains their most recent medical information and conditions. The device would probably be Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag of somesort. This device would be updateable at the Doctor's office, the hospital, the pharmacy or even at home if the user wished to purchase the home kit. The device would be much more effective if placed inside the human body, preferably in the fleshy part of the skin between the forefinger and the thumb. Some older folks have problems with this idea, so an option to have the device embeded into a ring/necklace/bracelet should be available. This is similar to what a diabetic wheres, minus the chip. The paramedics would have a reading device only, one that is transparent and out of the way of their jobs. Paramedics don't have time to diagnose, they are there to try and move the patient to a safer environment and maintain their stability. In order to do so, I believe they need a device that is embedded into their clothing. A sensor at the edge of the cuff of their sleeve with a wire running up the arm and into the breast pocket to a small lcd screen would be sufficient. Another wire running down from the device to the same cuff with a single LED embedded there would allow for the paramedic to have a warning or flashing warning of the device being updated. This would help twofold. One, it would allow them to know if the patient had the device in the first place, and two, would allow them to ignore the device if need be. Seconds save lives. If the situation is critical and straightforward, a paramedic would not need the device in the first place. If the circumstance warrants, then they could call on the device if need be. The lcd or pda type device in the breast pocket would have current medicinal status, patient conditions and maybe even personal information such as age, marital status and emergency contact info.

More Hardware and Tech info

http://www.aitechnology.com/avantetech/lowcost.html

http://www.ti.com/tiris/docs/news/news_releases/2003/rel8-11-03.shtml

http://www.microchip.ru/cdrom/10/design/start/index.htm

http://www.microchip.com/download/lit/pline/rfid/guides/21299d.pdf

Posted by Mike at January 14, 2004 09:32 PM

Mike Brinker

January 14, 2004

My Medical Binge

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