A team of young engineers from the Warsaw University of Technology has developed SmartHEAL. Their invention was awarded one of the most prestigious recognitions – the James Dyson Award.
SmartHEAL is an intelligent pH sensor integrated into the wound dressing. Wound dressings should provide the most optimum conditions for wound healing while protecting the wound from infection with microorganisms.
says SmartHEAL team.
“Current methods of wound assessment rely on subjective scoring of color, smell, temperature or expensive laboratory biochemical tests. Inappropriate wound healing not only could lead to tissue inflammation, but also necrosis and even patients’ death.
Moreover, the most common mistake in wound healing is changing the dressing too often, which can lead to infections, tissue disruption and extension of the healing process. That’s why we’ve started looking for a quick, affordable and easy solution of wound diagnosis that would save thousands of lifes – and the SmartHeal was born.”
What is important, the sensor on dressing itself does not require power supply or batteries for day-to-day use. Thanks to that Smart HEAL dressing allows for a quick, easy and comfortable wound analysis.
Moreover, the medical personnel or the patients themselves, can instant read the current state of pH values by passing a mobile device over the SmartHEAL dressing.
The James Dyson Award is an international design award that celebrates, encourages and inspires the next generation of design engineers. It’s open to current and recent design engineering students, and is run by the James Dyson Foundation, James Dyson’s charitable trust, as part of its mission to get young people excited about design engineering.
jamesdysonaward.org
In addition, the invention of SmartHEAL is a decisive step towards saving the elderly (over 70 years of age), whose wounds can appear extremely easy, and unfortunately, they heal very difficult.
Improper and rare (or too frequent) changing of dressings causes several complications. In the same way, in 28% of cases, such wounds are fatal for seniors or are associated with a permanent disability. Then, they can even result in limb amputation.
However, by monitoring the pH values, SmartHEAL assesses the condition of the wound and detects the infection without removing the dressing and thus without disturbing the tissues.
According to Michał Wiktorowicz from makeway.pl, the winners of this year’s The James Dyson Award concluded:
“We are very excited to be the international winners of the James Dyson Award this year! This is and will be a great opportunity for us to be part of something bigger, something that can hopefully change the world. We are trying to refine our prototype, obtain a patent and undergo the necessary clinical trials to commercialize SmartHEAL.
We were honored to be welcomed by Sir James Dyson himself. His words: “Congratulations! You are international winners of the James Dyson Award” are still ringing in our ears. We are still in disbelief, joy and happiness!”