Introduction
Cannulas are often used to insert a thin tube into a patient's vein to provide venous access for blood sampling and administering fluids, medications and the like.
UCLan research has developed a new, improved Cannula which provides greater comfort for the patient whilst also providing all the necessary functions of a standard cannula.
Description
Known cannulas due to their design can produce forces which result that, if the cannula is not fixed correctly, such forces may exert unwanted forces on the entry site of the cannula which can lead to discomfort for a patient.
Additionally, even if the cannula is fixed correctly to the patient, when the patient moves or twists their arm whilst the cannula is fixed to their skin may result in patient discomfort and, in some cases, bruising and swelling of the patient's hand at the cannula entry site and additionally, a greater likelihood of the cannula failing, and hence needing to be refitted.
Work has been done by many to mitigate some of these problems, none offers an entirely satisfactory solution.
UCLan research have produced a cannula and a method for using the Cannula. The Cannula is designed to minimize the discomfort that a patient will experience. The Cannula is designed so that when the patient moves or rotates their limb, the cannula is arranged to reduce the impact of movement by the patient on the cannula entry site.
Additional work is ongoing with relation to this project, so there is potential for collaboration on further developments on this research.
Core advantages
The Cannula UCLan has developed is designed to reduce the discomfort felt by patients due to the use of a cannula device whilst additionally reducing the likelihood of Cannula failure.
Applications
The Cannula is for use in a clinical environment within medical facilities.