COVID Triage Design Project

Designed a clinic's layout, devices, and flow of patients to help control the the spread of COVID

Biomedical Instrumentation Project

The emergence of SARS-COV-19 has caused a rise in vital sign measurement in business, airports, homes, and medical offices. Many places screen people for the virus using thermometers, if they have a fever they will be triaged to a different location or asked to quarantine.

When an office is busy or behind it can be hard to find a person to perform temperature screenings; having an automated system would prevent the need for this person to work this tedious task.

Design

  • Rooms that are highlighted lime green are COVID free zones, and have less sanitization equipment than the COVID zones

  • The high temperature /COVID zones are highlighted in pink

      • The rooms are equipped with large capacity disinfectant misters and contact free reception

Clinic Layout

Below is the layout & flowchart of the clinic designed to prevent the contamination of patients by controlling the flow of people

Temperature Unit

  • The flow of patients between the two sides of the clinic can be seen in the flowchart

  • The starting point is at the entrance of the building; a few feet from the door is a unit. The unit prompts the patient to align in the dotted outline to have their temperature taken

      • There are two possible outcomes, their temperature is below the threshold and they are prompted to proceed forward to the “well” waiting room

      • The flow of the normal temperature patients can be seen in. If the patient’s subject’s temperature is above the threshold they are prompted to proceed to the high temp waiting room

  • The unit used to take the patient's temperature automatically is comprised of a Raspberry Pi, IR camera, regular camera, and a LCD screen

High Temperature Waiting Room

  • The high temp waiting room remotely connects to the regular waiting room through the use of a tablet

      • The tablet runs a telehealth software so a video call between the receptionist and the patient can be started when they check-in

      • The conversation will be confidential and safe through the encryption in the software

      • This is also helpful for signing any documents remotely, as it keeps it secure and easy to add the medical record

  • To avoid fomites, non fabric chairs for easier cleaning and hands free sanitizing stations

High Temp Exam Rooms

  • Room Misters

    • OilWorks Disinfectant misters are in every room, they continuously spray disinfectant at a rate of 350 square feet per hour

  • Occupied Signs

    • The doctor seeing the high temperature patients must change their gown, clean their instruments, the examination table, and their hands after every encounter which can be time consuming.

    • There can also be fomites in the room if the mister has not finished its cycle.

    • To prevent the patient from coming into the room before it is decontaminated they asked to wait in the high temp waiting room until the “occupied” sign tells them they can enter.

    • This way the doctor can invite the patient in remotely when the space and their person is fully decontaminated.

Limitations

The device is accurate to 土2.5℃, which is not very accurate compared to medical grade infrared thermometers. This was a necessary sacrifice due to the limited knowledge and time to design the unit’s electronics. In a better version of the design, a cheaper and simpler processing unit would be used along with a more accurate IR camera.

The unit also needs to have accessibility features for people with disabilities. For example, an audio output is needed to guide a visually impaired person into the IR camera’s ideal range.

Skills Advanced

  • Design

  • Systems Integration

  • Process Engineering

  • Project Planning

  • Medical Device Research

  • Electronics