Modified IV Pole

There are over 200 million IVs given to patients in US hospitals annually. Patients and nurses within these hospitals are required to move IV poles regularly based on the needs of the individual. Current IV poles are difficult to move and cause nurses to focus on mobility issues instead of the patients they are trying to help.

This is the issue I wanted to fix when I entered an engineering design competition sponsored by Garver Engineering. I knew a little about this issue through medical papers and friends pursuing their nursing certifications but to get more information about how I could create a better IV pole I created an online survey and went to a variety of medical establishments in the DFW area such as Baylor Scott & White and Scottish Rite Hospital. Through these surveys, I learned I needed to address 2 key issues in the current IV pole: Ambulation (putting a patient in an ambulance) and patient mobility in the hospital.

The first and main issue was ambulation. When ambulating a patient a medical staff member currently has to hold the IV pole and move along the gurney with the patient so that no tubes are tangled or pulled. This means a valuable medical professional is now just transporting the IV pole. To fix this I designed an attachment that in one swift motion can clamp the IV pole to the side of a gurney or stretcher and have it move with the patient.

The issue of patient mobility in the hospital comes from two sources, the first is that most IV poles are made of light metal like aluminum to make it easy to move. This also makes it very top-heavy when IV bags are hung from the top of it, so medical staff and patients alike can easily tip the IV pole over and cause injury. I addressed this first issue by making the base of the pole out of a thicker sturdier material to balance out the device and stop it from tipping. The second issue is a result of the fact that while patients hold on to the pole itself, the legs of the device tend to protrude much farther and cause people handling the pole to trip. This was addressed by creating a handle attachment that is more ergonomic to grasp, allows the pole and its base to be distanced from the patient, and, with the sturdier bottom, allows the patient to place some of their weight on the pole while minimizing the risk of the IV pole falling over.

These features, and several others, were added to create an end design of a modular IV pole that can be changed to address the needs of the specific hospital or patient who is using it.

I was extremely pleased with when my entry won first place in the engineering design competition and more pleased with the positive response to the design from medical professionals who wanted to see it become a reality.

View The Presentation: https://rb.gy/u8f119