1.1 Introduction
An autonomous intravenous (IV) stand is a device that allows for mobile medicine distribution without the need for the patient to maneuver the device. IV Poles are frequently used in hospitals and healthcare centers for delivering saline, glucose and other solutions through intravenous lines to patients. Typically the filled IV bags need to be at a certain than the patient bed to ensure gravity based flow of the fluid. Thus the pole height needs to be from 4 to 7 feet. In fixed poles this creates problems such as neck sprain and arm sprains in nurses while hanging the IV bags and also risks of toppling of stand. In height adjustable poles it requires a lot of time to manually lower and increase height each time while replacing IV bags. Also there is no indication of when the IV bag runs dry and needs replacement.
As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.
1.2 Background of Study
The IV stand became prominent in the 1950's and the design has not experienced much modification since then. It is common for patients to be administered medication or nourishment utilizing an intravenous system due to their medical conditions. The current IV stand causes patients to use the stand for stability when walking, has a large base that causes trip hazards, and is difficult for weak patients to maneuver. While patients spend time in the hospital, they may be required to ambulate a certain amount of time per day or can become bored and want to take a walk. Patients that have IVs must pull an IV stand around the hospital while walking.
Patients are often in a weak or fragile state and often times struggle to maneuver and manipulate the IV stands, especially when using a walker. Hospital staff also has their complaints about traditional IV poles, some of which are shared with the patients' opinions. For example, both patients and staff complain about the bulky base of IV stands that can cause issues with maneuvering the stand around the hospital.
In past few years there has been great effort expended by researchers in a medical field for developing an intravenous feeding pump adapted to accurately measure and positively pump solutions from saline bag into the veins of a patient without depending on gravity force. Doctors often desire to introduce drugs into the blood stream of a patient, and whenever the patient is being fed intravenously, it is usually desirable to introduce the drug through the intravenous feeding system, as by injecting into the delivery tube to the patient. Now, this new Infusion System frees the healthcare worker to attend to more critical care areas.
The present intravenous feeding system consists of a saline bag containing the solution, an administration set which usually comprises a drop chamber and a valve for flow control and a needle which is inserted into the patient. Some problems will arise in traditional system. Always presence and monitoring of nurse is also needed. The Auto IV Pole with IV Bag Refill Alert is a simple and inexpensive solution to regular monitoring and injecting IV fluid like injection fluid, saline etc in vein. For assuring the safety of the patient during IV period, there is a need to develop an efficient health monitoring system. This invention will be helpful in this regard. A close control of solution feeding rate can be thereby achieved. This idea of Auto IV Pole with IV Bag Refill Alert can be done where servo motor, arduino, dc power supply, RTC, buzzer, water flow valve etc are used to provide control and injecting IV fluid in time which is set by the doctor or nurse. This will reduces the stress in continual monitoring and all time presence by the doctor or nurse at an affordable cost.
Therefore, in Nigeria where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to know the Auto Intravenous (IV) Pole with Intravenous Bag Refill Alert.
1.3 Statement of Problems
Investigation revealed that the infusion pumps commercially available are not entirely automated. They cannot be controlled precisely. They are equipped to give required amount doses at a particular time but they have to be manually set. Hence development and fabrication of an Auto IV Pole with IV Bag Refill Alert that can be monitored from a distance and the infusion rate is very necessary.
1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study
The aim of the study is to Design and Fabricate an Auto Intravenous (IV) Pole with Intravenous Bag Refill Alert. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:
- To design a IV Bag refill notification and sound alert system; and
- To construct a system that will be able to automatically adjustment the height of an IV Pole.
1.5 Significance of Study
The benefit of Intravenous (IV) system is that it would enable the physician to monitor and control the IV fluid feed system at the comfort of his/her office and there is no need of continuous presence of him. This study will be of immense benefit to other researchers who intend to know more on this study and can also be used by non-researchers to build more on their research work. This study contributes to knowledge and could serve as a guide for other study.
1.6 Scope of Study
The scope of the research is focused on the Auto Intravenous (IV) Pole with Intravenous Bag Refill Alert.
1.7 Limitations of the Study
During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:
- Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
- Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
- Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
- Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet).
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