SBIR-STTR Award

This project develops a display for visually representing physiologic data, to enhance a non-physician astronaut's ability to assess, comprehend and rapidly stabilize an injured crewmember's vital signs. With longer duration missions further from earth involving more dangerous activities, the need for more autonomous emergency medical care becomes acute Our prior research has shown that graphic displays improve a caregiver's ability to detect, to identify and to treat critical events. For example, subjects that used graphic displays saw critical events faster than those observing traditional medical displays. Erroneous decisions were significantly reduced, and response times to correct the problem were 33% faster. The plan is to develop an intuitive physiologic display that shortens the time a non-expert needs to stabilize a patient's vital signs following a medical event. Our display will provide a comprehensive view of the injured patient's physiologic state and guide the caregiver in restoring vital signs The iterative design of the graphic display will be evaluated in a patient simulator. We will identify the type of display which best helps astronauts rapidly stabilize vital signs and efficiently treat the emergency. The final design will enhance recovery from medical emergency in space as well as in numerous ground-based environments. POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATION Our display technology will be placed in bedside patient physiologic monitors that are used in the operating rooms, intensive care units and simulation centers. The US market size is 80,000 ICU beds, 20,000 OR beds and 100 simulation Centers

We plan to develop and refine a device (Basic Life Support System, BLSS) and a just-in-time training procedure for a flight crewmember who must administer cardio pulmonary resuscitation (CPR). In Phase I, we developed a computerized graphical display for CPR procedures. Volunteers using the display removed an airway obstruction and stabilized the patient in 10.9 minutes compared to 13.8 minutes for those who used the current NASA paper protocol. The number of errors was reduced by 42%. These differences significantly increase the survival rates for the patient. The goal of Phase II is to develop and refine the BLSS with an animated graphical display of instructions so that an individual without medical training can effectively resuscitate a patient. The BLSS will include an automatic external defibrillator, a CPR mask, and an oxygen supply. Sensors will provide feedback to inform the user of potential problems. The treatment protocol will automatically guide the user through the CPR algorithm and provide just-in-time training. Phase II studies will assess whether novice responders benefit from using the BLSS and evaluate if novices using the system will be as effective at resuscitating a patient, as are responders with basic life support and AED training. POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 200 WORDS) Applications for Axon?s CPR technology are in the rapidly growing first responder and public access market. Axon?s display and CPR technology will be placed inside an automatic external defibrillator (AED) and will be marketed in conjunction with the AED. The AED market in 2001 was $173 million dollars, with expected growth to $600 million in 2006 from the sale of over 300,000 units. The AED market is expected to grow rapidly because of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) endorsement of defibrillator placement in the workplace, the Community Access to Early Defibrillation Act funding for the purchase of defibrillators, and the enactment of the 1999 Cardiac Arrest Survival Act mandating placement of defibrillators in all Federal buildings. Phase II efforts are directed towards providing a Basic Life Support System to the crew medical officers who has received no more than 40 hours of medical training. Based on our pilot study (i.e., Phase I), the treatment of a patient in a cardiac arrest would take too long to be successful following the current NASA protocol because the text-based instructions are difficult to understand in high-stress situations. The technology that we will develop in Phase II of this STTR has applications throughout NASA's missions.