Award kudos for Flinders bioengineers

Biomedical engineering breakthroughs are being achieved at Flinders University. The latest achievement, a bioengineered epidural simulator, has resulted in an Institute of Electrical Engineers (IEE) award for the researcher, postgrad student Olivia Pallotta.

Her joint project supervisor, Assoc Prof Harry Owen, said the model was an honours project worked on by Pallotta and fellow honours student Jodie Wilson.

Using the torso of a shop mannequin, Pallotta and Wilson developed a simulator that looks and feels human outside but inside is "pure robot", Owen said.

According to Pallotta, the robot applies forces back on the epidural needle to electronically mimic the three ligaments a needle has to pierce before it reaches the epidural space. If the trainee applies the right amount of force, the needle advances further, and when it's 'in' the ligaments, the needle is blocked, as it would be in a human patient, she said While other simulators are commercially available, Owen said that this one was unique because each simulation is different. "If you use it 20 times, it acts like 20 different patients," he said.

Pallotta explained that a microprocessor controls and changes the length between the skin to the ligaments to the epidural zone, as well as controlling the 'toughness' of the ligaments. These variables are changed randomly each time the simulator is used.

The model was developed through collaboration between the departments of anaesthesiology (school of medicine) and the biomedical engineering department (school of informatics and engineering). According to Owen, these collaborative projects have been going on for about three years now. Although it took a couple of years to work out where each side was coming from, he said, "the collaboration between clinicians and engineers has been so fruitful."

Owen said that over the past three years student groups had worked on projects, which were loosely based on medical simulators. Some simulators are computer based: "this encourages student to think but doesn't allow them to practice psycho-motor skills."

Owen said the physical simulators allowed trainees to practice procedures that when applied incorrectly can have an adverse outcome. This year's project was a tracheal intubation trainer.

Pallotta's prize, which was awarded for her presentation of a paper on the project, is a trip to London in November for the Young Engineers Forum.

Owen said the epidural stimulator was in the process of being commercialised, and would also be further developed for further spinal procedure training applications.