In surgeries, one of the main concerns of doctors is to avoid risks or complications that may be generated by the procedure. One of these risks is thrombosis, the formation of a clot that can block the normal flow of blood. This can occur anywhere on the body, but most often in the veins of legs and thighs. To avoid this problem in long surgeries, an auxiliary equipment called Sequel is used. By simulating walking, through a process that continuously inflates and deflates the legs, the equipment allows circulation in that location to be kept active during surgery.

 

Hospital Alemão Oswaldo Cruz, in São Paulo, which has close to 30 of these devices for use in surgical centers, asked Insper Engineering students to provide a way to find them quickly since many surgeries are performed every day, making it easier to manage this resource, with improved quality in patient care.

 

This request was made in the context of the Final Engineering Project (PFE), developed in the 8th semester of graduation and which works, in practice, as a capstone project, with the mentoring of a professor. The projects meet real market demands over four months of work, with a minimum dedication of 300 hours from each student. Companies, which receive the solution at no cost, support the training of students by mentoring the solution and become entitled to its intellectual property.

 

Oswaldo Cruz’s demand came as a consequence of another Final Engineering Project delivered in the second half of last year with the same purpose of quickly finding a resource in the hospital. Wheelchairs were the target that time. Four students from the Mechatronics Engineering program and two from Texas A&M University participated, and it was the first Final Engineering Project developed in partnership with a foreign university. This time, for the PFE regarding Sequel developed in the first semester of this year, Texas A&M University once again participated, along with three Computer Engineering students from Insper: Andresa Buchala Bicudo, Rafael Libertini Argondizo and Rafael Seicali Malcervelli.

 

In technological terms, there was no difference between the two projects, as the solution offered was basically the same. “The prototype of the device installed in wheelchairs and Sequel pumps uses the hospital’s own WiFi network and is guided based on the location of the antennas. When the WiFi antenna emits the signal, the device developed by the students receives this signal, allowing the hospital staff to find out where wheelchairs and Sequel are located, in which block and on which floor. This makes a difference in terms of agility of care, since the hospital area is extensive”, says the advisor of this PFE, Alex Bottene, professor of Mechanical Engineering and Mechatronics at Insper in the areas of design for manufacturing, manufacturing processes, advanced manufacturing processes and integrated manufacturing management.

 

According to Bottene, the locator is based on development electronics and was created using inputs that the students already had from the university lab. “In terms of software, which mainly applies to the dashboard of the solution built, we used our experience in IoT (Internet of things) in order to allow full integration of Internet connection with wheelchairs and Sequel. The students’ knowledge of programming a cloud service contributed to this, connecting the information necessary for the locator to function correctly”, explains the professor.

 

Integration with Oswaldo Cruz professionals

 

The operating room is the most profitable area of any hospital and, from a business perspective, it needs to work at maximum efficiency, which is why finding Sequel pumps quickly is a welcome move. “This need for the locator on Sequel came from a conversation with Oswaldo Cruz’s teams, who highlighted this feature as having a high impact in reducing surgery delays, including the possibility of the procedure not taking place due to the lack of this device”, says Bottene.

 

The Final Engineering Project was made possible through weekly meetings between students and Oswaldo Cruz professionals, including clinical engineers, physicians, nurses, nursing managers and hospital managers. “This diversity of training, as well as Oswaldo Cruz’s engagement, brought different mindset and knowledge approaches that covered all aspects relevant to the success of the solution created”, states the professor.

 

The demonstration of the prototype by students, assembled in the operating room, has already been carried out successfully. In Bottene’s view, the most interesting feature of the PFE is that it gives students the opportunity to have contact with real-life problems and, moreover, to be challenged to come up with a solution. “Oswaldo Cruz Hospital had received a more expensive proposal to solve the same problem that students solved with a very low-cost implementation project, using the cloud service already adopted by the hospital”, he concludes.