Innovative researchers and designers from BCIT MAKE+ collaborated with entrepreneurial healthcare workers from the Royal Columbian Hospital to create a revolutionary device to improve the care of patients with collapsed lungs or fluid buildup in the chest cavity.
Dr. Ali Abdalvand collects ideas. The Royal Columbian Hospital emergency physician considers himself an amateur inventor, albeit one who has never really gone beyond putting his thoughts to paper. Dr. Abdalvand is working with BCIT MAKE+ on a device to improve the care of patients with collapsed lungs or fluid buildup in the chest cavity. The chest tube stabilizer would simplify the stabilization of chest tubes.
“I have always been someone with a knack for mechanical things,” says Dr. Abdalvand. “I do sketches of my ideas. But the thought of building a product is too big for someone who is already busy. I couldn’t even think of going this far had it not been for the MAKE+ team.”
MAKE+ is a group of multidisciplinary research staff focused on product and process development, evaluation, applied research projects, and education. In collaboration with Dr. Ali Abdalvand and the Royal Columbian Hospital Foundation, the MAKE+ team – comprised of Nigel Halsted, Johanne Mattie, and Thom Bellaire – started researching and developing the prototype.
The prototype had to keep the chest tube stabilizer in the chest cavity while allowing the incision to close without the tedious and time-consuming work of the surgeon to suture the incision. The team assembled a set of detailed requirements and worked closely with Dr. Abdalvand to develop and refine a series of initial concept models. The design was then revised over a series of iterations using tissue simulation models that were designed to approximate real-world conditions. After a series of refinements, MAKE+ developed a state-of-the-art prototype that is now going into clinical trials.
“The BCIT School of Health Sciences and MAKE+ have strong industry connections with health authorities in BC. Together, we worked closely with clinicians to transform their innovative ideas into practical products that will significantly improve patient care,” says Nancy Paris, BCIT MAKE+ Director.
This project was funded by the Royal Columbian Hospital Foundation Advancing Innovation in Medicine (AIM) Fund a pilot program with a specific goal: to discover, develop, and commercialize innovative ideas at Royal Columbian Hospital.
About MAKE+
MAKE+ is a group of multidisciplinary research staff focused on product and process development, evaluation, applied research projects, and education. The MAKE+ sub-group PART (Product and Process Applied Research Team), is the only academic product development group in Canada registered to IS0 13485 (Medical Devices) Quality Management Systems.
At MAKE+ we can take your ideas to the next level. We are highly skilled in the areas of evaluation, ergonomic assessments, health, consumer, and industrial technology development, automation and electronics.
About Royal Columbian Hospital Foundation
Building on a strong tradition of caring and community support, Royal Columbian Hospital Foundation (RCHF) was established in 1978 to raise funds for the hospital’s first CT Scanner. Since then, the mission of RCHF has been to raise money to help the hospital save lives, restore health and provide comfort to seriously injured and ill patients of all ages.
Today, RCHF is an independent charitable organization that raises millions of dollars each year to fund major projects, priority equipment needs, facility enhancements, research, education and innovation at RCH.
Thousands of individuals, businesses, community groups, and foundations in surrounding communities and across the region provide generous support to help RCHF achieve its vision — to inspire giving and grow funding so patients have access to the best in health care at Royal Columbian Hospital.