As the global fight against the new covid-19 virus continues, companies across the world are manufacturing products to help doctors treat patients, including an Arizona toy company that designs interactive learning spaces for kids in public libraries. Burgeon Group’s work can be seen in over 700 libraries throughout North America. Their learning spaces have been featured everywhere from USA Today to Architectural Record.
An aerosol box invention to help covid-19 patients.
A Taiwanese doctor released his design for an “aerosol box” on March 21, according to Taiwan News. The boxes are designed to help doctors when they’re connecting a patient to a ventilator, which provide breathing assistance for someone who is seriously ill from pneumonia and is no longer able to inhale and exhale on their own. A ventilator requires a tube to be inserted into the windpipe in a process called intubation. Doctors can use the box while intubating a patient to protect themselves from any particles that could be released from the patient’s airway during the procedure. Usually, doctors would wear protective equipment during intubation but many hospitals are facing a shortage of personal protective equipment, and such a box could be a solution.https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33033956.
In the age of the novel coronavirus 2019 (covid-19), Stanford Children’s Health has been forced to reimagine its ability to provide support and care to young patients, especially children with complex chronic conditions who are susceptible to infection, like 12-year-old Denielle Santos. First diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma, and now recently diagnosed with epithelioid sarcoma, a rare soft-tissue cancer, four years ago, Denielle is no stranger to the shelter-in-place lifestyle at the hospital—wearing a mask, constant handwashing, and practicing social distancing—but the state mandate order in March did not make the situation any easier for her and her family. Fortunately, the specialists at the Child Life and Creative Arts Department have found resourceful ways to keep patients like Denielle busy and entertained while at the same time helping them cope with their hospitalization and illness.
Providing extra care for children suffering covid-19.
Holley Lorber, CCLS, a Child Life Specialist in hematology/oncology, says that working amid the covid-19 pandemic has given her the opportunity to think outside the box in supporting patients and family members. “As soon as our team was made aware that we might be limited in our ability to provide support to patients in an effort to minimize the risk of exposure to covid-19 to both patients and staff, we immediately began thinking of creative ways to be able to support patients from a distance. By providing play in their room, Child Life specialists help patients process their experiences and provide them with therapeutic play, distraction and relaxation techniques to reduce pain and encourage positive coping during procedures and tests. CREATIVE WAYS TO SUPPORT HOSPITAL PATIENTS DURING COVID-19 – Docsun Computation MedLab.
During her stay, Denielle had to be ruled out for covid-19, similar to other patients on the unit, and needed a covid-19 test, which caused her to feel nervous and anxious. Despite the fact that Holley could not physically be present in the room during testing time, she was still able to provide a continued supportive presence by talking to her from outside the room. “I was able to take what I knew about Denielle, prepare her for the swab, and work with her to devise a coping plan to help minimize her anxiety before, during, and after the test.”
It is often through this form of trust that children feel safe to express to their child life specialists any fears or worries they may have, as they would with a close friend.
Diverting stress and anxiety suffering COVID-19 like symptoms.
Child life specialists aim to help reduce stress and anxiety in patients by utilizing developmentally appropriate education, therapeutic play, and preparation and support during procedures. Seeing the impact that the inadvertent isolation is having on patients, the Child Life and Creative Arts team has come up with new, safe, and creative ways to keep patients engaged and ease feelings of loneliness. These activities minimize patients’ stress and help them cope more effectively.
Another innovative way has been the technological research undertaken by companies such as DOCSUN Biomed . It has come up with a convenient way to monitor one’s health. It is a non-contact and non-invasive way to know a person’s health status.
Web Portal
This technology enables one to read their vitals using a desktop, laptop, any display i.e. TV etc. This is convenient because it’s also accessible to anyone with a smart device and therefore making life easier for our users.
FEATURES INCLUDE:
• Detect user’s facial landmarks
• Detect redness/ coloration in the eyes
• Read SPO2 levels
• Detect heartbeat per minute
• Face recognition using the device’s camera
• Response on whether a user is positive or negative
• Sharing results via E-mail
• QR code validation
