For the Joeys

Kangaroo Mother Care Temperature Monitor

 

Member profile details

Membership level
2018-2019 Team
Project Thumbnail Image
Team Name
For the Joeys
Project Title
Kangaroo Mother Care Temperature Monitor
Design Challenge
Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC), which promotes skin-to-skin contact as the baby is strapped to the mother’s chest, can be used to provide warmth to hypothermic babies in developing countries, where resources such as incubators are scarce. The warmth provided by KMC is essential for improving neonatal survival rates, because for each degree the temperature of the infant decreases, the mortality rate increases by 80%. The Neonatal Temperature Monitor (NTM) is currently being used as a method to accurately monitor temperature changes in a baby and quickly alert nurses when a child becomes too cold, but is only useful when the device is connected to the side of a cot or incubator that the child is placed in. Adapting the NTM for use with KMC requires a portable and comfortable device that allows mothers to accurately and continuously monitor the temperature of their babies without much training. Such a device would allow mothers to ensure the safety of their babies while also maintaining their day-to-day responsibilities.
Design Summary
For the Joeys has adapted the Neonatal Temperature Monitor, developed by a previous Rice 360 team, for use with Kangaroo Mother Care. Our 5 main design criteria with which we picked our final solution are accuracy, durability, cost, portability, and comfort. Building upon the current NTM used, we focused on decreasing size and cost while improving the comfort and accessibility aspects of the device. A control unit, which includes an Arduino Nano microcontroller to process temperature measurements and a dual alert alarm system, is attached to an arm band on the mother's upper arm. The alarm system uses both LEDs and a vibrational alarm to alert the mother and a nurse or other healthcare professional if the temperature of the baby changes outside normal levels. A temperature probe is attached to a belt that will surround the neonate's abdomen (which is the same mechanism as what the NTM uses). We are continuing to work on scaling down the current size to be a smaller, lighter, and cheaper unit that will be less cumbersome to the mom and also take up fewer resources.

“Last Updated: 4/18/2019”.
Date Updated
Thursday, April 18, 2019
Sponsors
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Department(s)
  • Global Health Technologies
  • Bioengineering
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Faculty Advisor 1 - Name
Meaghan Bond
Faculty Advisor 1 - Department
  • RICE 360
 

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