Project Overview

Summary

Anesthesiologists and ICU personnel use peripheral nerve stimulators (PNS) to measure the amount of temporary muscle paralysis produced by certain drugs during general anesthesia or during mechanical ventilation in the ICU. It is critical that the nerve stimulator devices are functioning correctly, in order that the paralyzing drugs are administered in the correct dose over time. Since these (relatively simple) hand-held PNSs are subject to daily physical abuse, they often malfunction. However, it is not readily apparent that they are malfunctioning.

I propose that students develop a simple "tester" small enough to be kept in the drawer of each anesthesia machine or at an ICU patient's bedside. It would have two snap buttons to attach the PNS wire leads. The tester would detect/validate several stimulation outputs by the PNS. The tester could have 5 LEDs. One could confirm proper operation of the tester. Once the two snap electrodes are connected to the PNS & the PNS is activated, one LED would confirm a stimulator output of approximately 20 milliamps, two LEDs with 40, three with 60 ma, and four LEDs with 80 ma. No lights indicate that the nerve stimulator is broken or that its leadwires are open.

We would like to have an initial design that would allow off-the-shelf components to be assembled in-house, for actual testing if PNS.


Materials
Sample PNS

Client:
Dr. Scott Springman
Anesthesiology
Medicine
(608) 263-8100
srspring@wisc.edu

Team Picture

Contact Information

Team Members

• Katherine Swift - Team Leader
• Curtis Weber - Communicator
• Colin Korlesky - BSAC
• Allison Berman - BWIG

Advisor and Client

• Mitchell Tyler - Advisor
• Scott Springman - Client

Related Projects

• Spring 2015: Peripheral nerve stimulator tester
• Fall 2014: Peripheral nerve stimulator tester