Our Gadgets
Because Lauren and I will probably be referring to these “gadgets” quite a bit in our blogs, here is a brief overview of the technologies that we brought over.
Dosing Syringe – a small plastic insert that can be clipped onto a syringe to control the amount of medication drawn and dispensed. The Accudose will be especially helpful for ensuring that the right amount of medication is delivered when patients bring their medications home.
DBS Transport System – a durable system that allows for the transport of laboratory specimens in a stable environment. The transport box was originally designed to carry microscope samples but can be easily adapted for other laboratory techniques (such as the Dried Blood Spot PCR test).
Pediatric Transilluminator – allows for the visualization of hard-to-detect veins. This device is particularly useful when performing venipuncture in young, dark-skinned, or malnourished patients. We have brought over both currently available models (Veinlite) and student-made models.
Salad Centrifuge (Lauren’s baby) – a centrifuge made from a modified salad spinner that can be used to spin up to 100 blood samples to determine hematocrit without using electricity.
Automated Hemoglobin Assessment (Ben’s baby) – a two-component consisting of a photobox and computer (hopefully future cell phone app) program. The computer program determines the hemoglobin concentration by analyzing a picture of a blood spot placed in the photobox.
Pill counting scale – a portable balance that was designed to weigh out diamonds. The idea behind the scale is that if you know the weight of a single pill, you can determine how many pills there are by finding the total weight.
Adherence Charts – Determining how well patients adhere to their given prescriptions is extremely important when treating HIV/AIDS. By comparing how many pills the patient should have to how many pills the patient brings back, you can determine how well the patient has followed the doctor’s orders. These charts calculates adherence based on how many pills the patient takes per day and how days since the patient last visited.
That’s all for now. More on the World Cup later.