
MASSDEVICE ON CALL — A team of University of Michigan students built an online compendium of innovative medical devices "designed for use and/or implemented within resource-limited settings."
The database, intended for health care providers in developing countries, already contains more than 100 devices, including a pedal-powered nebulizer, wax-filled sleeping bags for warming infants and a salad-spinner centrifuge for blood samples.
"I’m from a part of the world that isn’t very developed" doctoral student Amir Sabet, who was born in Iran and spent time in Turkey, said in a press release. "When I came to the U.S., the promise I made to myself was to give back to places like where I came from, where not many people tend focus with their education and knowledge."
The project was the brainchild of assistant professor Kathleen Sienko’s Design for Global Health engineering course.
Future U.M. students will contribute to the database, but the wiki format allows anyone to contribute, edit and advance the project.
View the Global Health Medical Device Compendium here.
Insurance companies may pay up to $1.3 billion this year in rebates to patients thanks to President Barack Obama’s landmark health care reform laws.
Read more
Robotic telepresence devices maker VGo Communications unveiled a collaboration with United Cerebral Palsy to jointly develop products to help people with disabilities expand their independence.
Read more
Challengers to President Barack Obama’s health care reform laws filed a brief letter with the Supreme Court in attempts to sway the Judges’ toward a swift decision.
Read more
1 in 3 adults uses discusses health issues online via social media and as many would allow monitoring of their social media conversations if the data might lead to insights in health care, a survey says.
Read more
Up to 112 million adults may have pre-existing conditions, according to a Government Accountability Office report. Read more
Cambridge, Mass.-based Healthbox launched a health care accelerator program, offering $500,000 in seed capital to up to 10 New England startups. Read more