Health & Medical

21st Century Medical Bag

Safer medical care in the community
The 21st Century medical bag is a lightweight, easy to clean bag and treatment surface for storing, transporting and delivering medical care outside of the hospital. It has been designed to provide a sterile lay-down treatment area for clinical items and to be free of fasteners, zips and other features which harbour bacteria and inhibit effective cleaning.

The medical bag is an essential tool for delivering care outside of hospitals. Unlike hospitals every patient's home is different forcing healthcare workers delivering treatments in these surroundings to improvise as they work off the floor - from a table or off a chair seat.

The 21st Century medical bag was developed to standardise the delivery of medical practice and service in uncontrolled settings and improve patient safety. It is the result of extensive research which highlighted many problems associated with using conventional nursing bags such as the lack of a safe work zone to support the preparation and delivery of treatments. The design of conventional bags, combined with the absence of an effective cleaning regime and the high number of patient visits per day (up to 17 patients), raises concerns over the transfer of dangerous pathogens and proliferation of drug-resistant infections, such as MRSA, in the community.

The 21st Century medical bag consists of a lightweight carcass with compartments to store medical equipment which are retained without use of fasteners. It can therefore be very quickly and effectively cleaned and disinfected between patient visits. When it is in an open dispensing configuration, it provides a useful treatment area. The modular nature of the 21st Century medical bag's compartments also means that they could, optionally, be pre-packed at source with the necessary materials and kit for treating specific conditions.

Evaluations carried out with the support of NHS East Riding of Yorkshire and the University of Huddersfield confirmed that this dedicated bag was an effective tool for healthcare workers.

The simplicity of the design and ease of manufacture make the 21st Century medical bag ideal for the delivery of medical care, including emergency first aid and planned care, sample taking, health demonstrations and veterinary care.

The 21st Century medical bag is being developed at InnovationRCA, by David Swann, PhD Researcher at the College's Vehicle Design department and lecturer in Art, Design and Architecture at the University of Huddersfield. The bag is covered by a patent application and we are exploring licensing opportunities.

For further information contact InnovationRCA