Project Description: 

Hi! We’re team IVTronic. For our capstone project, we addressed a common problem found in hospitals: First-stick failure is a prevalent occurrence when large bore needles are difficult to insert for transfusions. In emergency settings, a rapid transfusion occurs in 20-50% of daily ICU cases and one in four individuals will experience first-stick failure. Nurses often have to resort to using two IVs simultaneously to satisfy flow rate requirements needed for treatment, and these multiple sticks can cause damage and inflammation to patient’s veins. Using multiple needles drives up hospital costs and contributes heavily to the total $1.6 billion industry. Therefore, our team along with the help of our sponsor, Dr. Eeshwar Chandrasekar, investigated how to improve current IV solutions to be able to deliver small or large flow rates while being able to use small diameter needles and thus reduce overall hospital expenditure on additional catheters. Our inspiration comes from Chinese finger traps in which they are able to elongate and compress, which in turn constricts and dilates the catheter, consecutively. We proposed a design that involves a mesh stent embedded within the catheter so that the stent-catheter system can dilate and constrict through the addition of a sliding switch. This will allow physicians and nurses the option of using smaller sized needles for easier venous access while still satisfying treatment flow rate requirements, thus reducing first-stick failure and the need for additional catheters.