Bioengineering Capstone Team Improves Healthcare in Rural Maine
As part of their capstone project, bioengineering students developed Flextab, a circular silicon-based tab that replaces stickers on an electrocardiogram (EKG), after learning about healthcare professionals’ needs in rural Maine working with the Roux Institute at Northeastern. The tabs aren’t sticky and are less likely to detach, improving patient experiences and helping medical professionals work more efficiently.
This article originally appeared on Northeastern Global News. It was published by Cesateo Contreras. Main photo: Northeastern bioengineering students Lauren Piasecki, Megan Burke, and Mary Cipullo make silicon EKG tabs in an EXP lab on the Boston campus. Photo by Alyssa Stone/Northeastern University
From EKG tabs to silent seizure detectors, Northeastern students offer solutions to improve health care in rural Maine
An electrocardiogram is a non-invasive test that helps doctors detect problems with a person’s heart rate or rhythm. But there is some prep work involved that some patients find uncomfortable and makes the process longer.
EKG stickers need to be placed on a person’s chest, arms and legs, and for accurate readings, body hair in those areas often needs to be removed.
That can be difficult in rushed situations, like when EMTs are performing lifesaving care in the back of an ambulance, or in fast-moving environments like a hospital emergency room, explains Northeastern University graduate Jason Xu.
Sometimes the stickers fall off because of sweat or movement and need to be reapplied, wasting critical moments the patient may not have.
For his senior capstone, Xu and a group of bioengineering students at Northeastern developed a solution—the Flextab, a circular silicon-based EKG tab that medical professionals can use in place of stickers.
The tabs aren’t sticky and aren’t affected by body hair, improving both the patient experience and helping medical professionals work more efficiently, the students say.
That was one of several innovative ideas the group of five students thought up after shadowing medical professionals in rural Maine last year as part of a capstone course at Northeastern’s Roux Institute.
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The trip, which included visits to MaineHealth Pen Bay Medical Center, Oasis Free Clinic and LifeFlight, served as an opportunity for students to see firsthand the state’s health apparatus and develop potential solutions to some of its biggest problems.
Much of Maine’s population—like many rural states—is economically disadvantaged and many people live miles away from any health facilities, explains Katherine Simmonds, the associate director of health services at the Roux and a clinical professor in Northeastern’s Bouvé College of Health Sciences.
The hospitals that are nearby are under a lot of financial strain, and are reducing their offering of more specialized services. Broadband access is also spotty in many parts of the state, making options like telehealth limited. Many residents also rely on Medicare or Medicaid, which don’t provide the best coverage.
“Those factors—what we call social determinants or social drivers of health—really feed into people’s ability to access health care,” Simmonds says.
One way to address these disparities is collaborating with engineers, computer scientists and public health experts, she says. That sentiment is at the heart of the students’ capstone trip, which was supported by a National Institute for Health grant.
Read full story at Northeastern Global News