In 2003, a baby boy, while being treated in an Alberta hospital, died from strangulation when he got tangled in medical tubing. The IV Infant Safety Vest fits snugly around the patient’s upper body. It gathers all medical lines and tubes from the upper body in a special sleeve incorporated into the vest, and channels these lines and tubes to the lower part of the body, where they emerge and are hooked up to various equipment. The disposable vest is designed to be effective at preventing entanglement, comfortable to wear, easy to clean, and use.

- Prevent strangulation of infants - Prevent strangulation in pets

BCIT is partnered with BC Children’s Hospital, Provincial Health Services Authority in this applied research project. Contact person: Dale Pace Provincial Health Services Authority Office at Children's & Women's Health Centre (604) 875-3549 (604) 875-3289 dpace@cw.bc.ca www.phsa.ca

BCIT’s HTRG product development team has just completed phase one of a multiphase development process whose goal is to develop a design that is safe, effective, reliable, and suitable for clinical trials, and to produce at least 100 prototypes for evaluation.

Phase One resulted in a complete set of design requirements that consider everything from effectiveness to manufacturability. Next, the team plans to put the finishing touches on the detailed design and begin production of the first prototype for verification testing. The prototype will be evaluated in a controlled study in a simulated-care environment at the Dr. Tong Louie Living Laboratory at BCIT’s Downtown Campus. The evaluation will use healthy volunteers to verify the safety and function of the product. This will be followed by a study in a hospital setting on patients ranging from six months to three years — the population most at risk of strangulation.