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Love-bite inspired tech to help reduce botched injections

Technology inspired by love-bites can increase the diameter of veins by up to a third and cut the number of botched injections on the NHS, say researchers.

Research team - web.jpg
The Olberon and NTU research team
L to R: Dr Arash Bakhtyari, Prof Amin Al-Habaibeh, Researcher Maryam Asrar

Love-bite inspired tech to help reduce botched injections

Technology inspired by love-bites can increase the diameter of veins by up to a third and cut the number of botched injections on the NHS, say researchers.

Developed by Olberon Medical Innovations with support from Nottingham Trent University, it is based on a tourniquet that includes a manual pumping dome to create suction.

The suction draws blood to the local area which increase the size of veins, making them easier to locate.

The temperature of blood also increases in the local area, which allows for the use of infrared cameras to help identify hard to spot veins.

Each year 30 million cannulations are performed on the NHS and up to a third fail first time, say the researchers. For children the figure is around 50 per cent, they add. After two failed attempts, a doctor is called.

Named Vacuderm, the technology has just become available on the open market and aims to improve the psychological experience for patients. The researchers say the technology will also reduce waste and save money and time for the NHS.

Professor Amin Al-Habaibeh, a professor in intelligent engineering systems, in the university’s School of Architecture Design and the Built Environment, said: “Veins can be especially hard to find in people who have poor or no visible veins and in certain groups of people such as children and older people.

“If a clinician has to try several times to find a vein, it can be traumatic for both the practitioner and patient.

“But this simple technology, which works on a similar basis to a love-bite, could help reduce the number of botched injections significantly by making veins more prominent and easier to find.”

Dr Arash Bakhtyari, chief executive officer of Olberon Medical Innovations, said: “The Vacuderm was developed because patients had bad experiences with needle insertion and this study shows that the Vacuderm is likely to help with this.”

An assessment of the technology has been published in the International Journal of Nursing

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    About Nottingham Trent University

    Nottingham Trent University (NTU) was named University of the Year 2019 in the Guardian University Awards. The award was based on performance and improvement in the Guardian University Guide, retention of students from low-participation areas and attainment of BME students. NTU was also the Times Higher Education University of the Year 2017, and The Times and Sunday Times Modern University of the Year 2018. These awards recognise NTU for its high levels of student satisfaction, its quality of teaching, its engagement with employers, and its overall student experience.

    The university has been rated Gold in the Government’s Teaching Excellence Framework – the highest ranking available.

    It is one of the largest UK universities. With nearly 32,000 students and more than 4,000 staff located across four campuses, the University contributes £900m to the UK economy every year. With an international student population of more than 3,000 from around 100 countries, the University prides itself on its global outlook

    The university is passionate about creating opportunities and its extensive outreach programme is designed to enable NTU to be a vehicle for social mobility. NTU is among the UK’s top five recruiters of students from disadvantaged backgrounds. A total of 82% of its graduates go on to graduate entry employment or graduate entry education or training within six months of leaving. Student satisfaction is high: NTU achieved an 88% satisfaction score in the 2018 National Student Survey.

    NTU is also one of the UK’s most environmentally friendly universities, containing some of the sector’s most inspiring and efficient award-winning buildings.

    NTU is home to world-class research, and won The Queen’s Anniversary Prize in 2015 – the highest national honour for a UK university. It recognised the University’s pioneering projects to improve weapons and explosives detection in luggage; enable safer production of powdered infant formula; and combat food fraud.

Published on 8 May 2019
  • Category: Press office