STEM
Under anesthesia required for surgical procedures, a patient experiences vasodilation and loses the ability to properly regulate their body temperature, causing a core-to-peripheral redistribution of body heat. If core body temperature drops below 36.0 ℃, it becomes perioperative hypothermia, which may lead to cardiac events, impaired pharmacodynamics, increased risk of infection, excess blood loss, and even organ failure. In turn, this creates worsened patient outcomes, prolonged hospitalization time, and increased medical expenses. Perioperative hypothermia has been reported to affect about 70% of surgical patients, thus establishing a need for an active warming system to prevent it from occurring. Through a needs assessment conducted in the Dominican Republic in Spring 2022, our team found that many healthcare systems across the country lack effective methods for maintaining patient core body temperature during surgeries. Current solutions used in the United States are expensive, non-reusable, and require manual controls, making it difficult to implement them in the Dominican Republic. Thus, based on our needs assessment and additional feedback from advisors, our team is currently developing a reusable, low-cost heated mattress element with an automatic control system to adjust mattress temperature in response to feedback from non-invasive core body temperature readings. There is a need for a method of regulating patient core body temperature during surgery to prevent perioperative hypothermia and the ensuing complications that arise in low-resource hospitals. Thus, our team’s mission is to provide a safe, effective, affordable, and reusable solution to allow healthcare systems across the Dominican Republic to effortlessly maintain patient core body temperature during surgery, resulting in improved patient outcomes and a reduced financial burden for both hospitals and patients. Specifically, our team strives to give operating rooms the ability to monitor core body temperature and maintain normothermia in patients during surgical procedures to prevent complications and discomfort that may arise as a result of perioperative hypothermia.
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