Medical Equipment Manufacturers Research Articles

Перспективы международного сотрудничества России и Республики Корея в области медицины и здравоохранения

The scientific and technical cooperation between Russia and the Republic of Korea is one of the key components of the entire system of relations between states over 30 years of diplomatic relations. The article deals with the features of cooperation between Russian and South Korean companies in the production of medical equipment using the legal form of relationship «concession agreement». The prospects for the development of the market of foreign medical equipment in Russia have been analyzed. The interaction in the field of medicine as one of the leading sectors of economic development will enable in the long term to modernize domestic medical industry using Korean high-tech equipment, which will lead to favorable social consequences: improving the quality and accessibility of medical care, developing science and technology, creating new jobs.

COVID-19 as a Catalyst: How the Coronavirus Pandemic can Increase Accessibility in the US Healthcare System

The March 2020 onset of the coronavirus pandemic and the surge of cases that followed it has fundamentally changed the American healthcare landscape. Of course, the health sector is better acquainted with sweeping structural changes than most others, but it has never undergone so multifaceted a transition. Fear of contagion continues to motivate patients to seek care remotely, postpone elective treatments, and grapple with questions of how to pay steep out-of-pocket costs in the face of job instability and financial hardship. The offshoring of medical equipment manufacturing has yielded supply shortages (King, 2020), making providers less agile in their responses to the sudden increase in demand for treatment (OECD, 2020). Payers rushed to streamline access to care by extending coverage to COVID-related hospitalizations, waiving cost-sharing requirements, and cutting back on administrative red tape (Liss, 2020). The evolution of care delivery combined with the formation of unlikely partnerships under the duress of the pandemic may have forged a healthcare sector with fewer administrative barriers, more flexible delivery of care, and a superior pricing model.

Additive Manufacturing for Localized Medical Parts Production: A Case Study.

Centralized supply chains (SCs) are prone to disruption, which makes them a risky choice for medical equipment production. Additive manufacturing (AM) allows for production localization and improvements in SC resilience. However, the comparative competitiveness of a localized SC from the time and cost perspective is still unclear. In this study, we investigate the competitiveness of localized medical part AM SCs against centralized ones by analyzing the responsiveness and cost of each SC. We utilize a real-world case study in which an AM service provider supplies medical parts to university medical centers in the Netherlands to construct six scenarios. We also develop a thorough empirical cost formulation for both central and local AM of patient-specific medical parts. The results of scenario analysis show that when utilizing the currently available AM technology, localized SC configurations significantly reduce the delivery time from about 54 to 27h, but at a 4.3-fold higher cost. Hence, we illustrate that the cost difference between the localized and centralized scenarios can be reduced when state-of-the-art AM machines are utilized, demand volumes increase, and the distances between the SC network nodes expand. Moreover, our scenario analysis confirms that the cost of the measures taken to prevent dust dispersion associated with powder-bed fusion AM has a major impact on the total cost of localized AM SCs for medical parts. The results of this study contribute to the understanding of the relevant factors in deciding whether central or localized SC configurations can be used in the AM production of medical parts. Furthermore, this study provides managerial insights for decision-makers at governments and hospitals as well as AM service providers and AM equipment manufacturers.

Mechanism for developing foreign markets of technology products for efficient healthcare management and medical complexes construction

The paper outlines the findings of an analysis of the aspects of launching innovative technology products in new foreign markets, as exemplified by the market of medical equipment, with a focus on efficient management of healthcare. The purpose of the paper is to find efficient methods of introducing and further promoting innovative products in new markets and to propose practical recommendations. The conclusions can be used for the process of architectural planning and construction of hospitals and other healthcare complexes. The following methods were applied to conduct the study: the method of comparative analysis of leading Russian and international innovation-driven companies of different sectors, specifically medical equipment production, used to identify major demand trends in the market; the case study method; the method of deduction; the method of linear regression used to develop forecasts of future demand development for medical equipment. The study has identified major factors of competitive advantages for Russian producers of medical equipment, namely, the implementation of technology systems, development of specifically tailored propositions for each individual market, establishment of partner relations with local agent companies and bringing to the market patented equipment under licence agreements. A mechanism is developed for launching innovative products in foreign markets, which includes the stage of legal regulation, foreign trade and customs regulation, promotion and marketing measures, as well as after-sales service. The paper concludes with practical recommendations on bringing technology products in external markets, which highlight the need for preliminary monitoring of similar products available locally and internationally, complex solutions and establishment of joint ventures for product promotion and public-private entities in the long run to improve the healthcare management system.

Обоснование оптимальной схемы ударно-волновой терапии при васкулогенных эректильных дисфункциях

Introduction. Shock wave therapy (SWT) has been used quite successfully to treat erectile dysfunction (ED). However, the question of the optimal SWT regimen for the treatment of erectile dysfunction remains unresolved and is the subject of discussion among both physicians and manufacturers of medical equipment. Purpose of the study. Develop and substantiate the most effective SWT regimen for the treatment of erectile dysfunction, based on the analysis of 28 scientific clinical studies. Metrials and methods. To solve the problem, we analyzed 28 scientific clinical studies containing data on the use of shock wave therapy in the treatment of vasculogenic ED in a clinical setting. Results. In the field of research, we developed and substantiated the SWT scheme for the treatment of vasculogenic ED. The scheme consists of a 9-week course (3 – therapy, 3 – break, 3 – therapy), contains 12 procedures (2 procedures per week); impulses are applied to 5 points, 500 impulses each (2500 per procedure); the total number of impulses per course is 30,000. Conclusions. Thus, we have proposed a differential approach to the choice SWT regimen for the treatment of vasculogenic ED. Conservative tactics involves the use of medications (primarily PDE-5). Nevertheless, SWT can and should be applied within the framework of this tactic, and the optimal scheme is established mathematically by analyzing the literature data. Within the framework of a differentiated approach, we have determined the optimal schemes for conducting shock wave therapy in the treatment of vasculogenic erectile dysfunction.

A materials-science perspective on tackling COVID-19.

The ongoing SARS-CoV-2 pandemic highlights the importance of materials science in providing tools and technologies for antiviral research and treatment development. In this Review, we discuss previous efforts in materials science in developing imaging systems and microfluidic devices for the in-depth and real-time investigation of viral structures and transmission, as well as material platforms for the detection of viruses and the delivery of antiviral drugs and vaccines. We highlight the contribution of materials science to the manufacturing of personal protective equipment and to the design of simple, accurate and low-cost virus-detection devices. We then investigate future possibilities of materials science in antiviral research and treatment development, examining the role of materials in antiviral-drug design, including the importance of synthetic material platforms for organoids and organs-on-a-chip, in drug delivery and vaccination, and for the production of medical equipment. Materials-science-based technologies not only contribute to the ongoing SARS-CoV-2 research efforts but can also provide platforms and tools for the understanding, protection, detection and treatment of future viral diseases.

Design and Improving Vital Sign with Parameter Body Temperature (axilla) and Oxymetry for Patient Monitoring

In most hospitals, nurses routinely calculate and document primary vital signs for all patients 2-3 times per day to get information on the patient's condition. Vital Sign Monitor is made for medical devices that can diagnose patients who need intensive care to determine patient needs. Some parameters used in patient renewal: Oxygen saturation (SPO2), and body temperature. This makes additional tasks very important to be evaluated for medical staff and equipment manufacturers. This evaluation is needed to get the real condition of the patient. With the large number of patients who need evaluation, it is not possible to see the condition of some medical workers who work. This medical service is expected to reduce the workload of nurses with doctors and improve the quality of patient care. The large demand for these devices, mostly in hospital intensive rooms, is the basis for researching the output of data from multiple vital sensor monitor monitors to obtain accurate and precise outputs. The output of the two sensors is processed by Arduino Mega2560 and requested on a 5 inch TFT LCD in the form of body temperature and oxygen saturation. Comparison of module results with standard measuring instruments calibrated to reference this module is used for accurate and precise results. According to the assessment and reversing tool data with the dressing tool, the highest error value is 1%. With a maximum permitted permission of 5%.

Analyze the factors influencing human-robot interaction using MCDM method

Robots play a key role in medical equipment manufacturing industry by safeguarding human workers from hazardous environment and risky jobs. Human robot interaction (HRI) is one of the robotic features that are enhanced in industrial robots. They mimic human behavior while arriving at a decision, contributing to the proficiency of the product. Tasks involving human cognitive skills and flexibility in the workers are combined with robots to obtain high-level accuracy, repeatability, and speed. Further, more challenges are to be met for achieving an effective human-robot interaction. In this paper, risk factors affecting the interaction between both robot and humans are discussed, and a contextual case is performed in a top south Indian medical equipment manufacturing industry. Industrial experts' inputs and relevant literature are considered to recognize the risk factors. Multi-Criteria decision-making method (MCDM) like DEMATEL (Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory) is used to analyze the risk factors influencing HRI in the assembly section. The paper's findings show that automation level and reliability of the robot are the most influential factor in the assembly section and need more attention to control and reduce the risk factor for the effective assembly.

The disproportions of personnel support of medical sphere

The article discusses such issues of current state of staffing in medical sector as availability of health care system specialists, training programs for applicants to medical educational organizations and post-graduate programs for specialists, professional motivation and job prospects for graduates, prospects for development of medical education and training. In addition to professional sphere, modern health care system is also a market for medical services, which, according to expert estimates, is about 10 trillion US dollars per year. The participants in the field of medical services are not only organizations that provide medical care, but also manufacturers of medical equipment and medications. The medical sphere can't to effectively develop isolated from social structure. The staffing in medical field requires, along with professional motivation and job prospects in order to attract specialists in the field of medicine, and provide social support for their retention. The students entering medical university need decent salary after graduation and favorable conditions for further progression in professional field.

The Covid Crisis – A Turning Point in History – It Has to Be!

Andrew Hague* Author Affiliations Professor of Advanced Medicine, President of Cell Sonic, Manufacturers of Medical Equipment, United Kingdom Received: June 22, 2020 | Published: June 30, 2020 Corresponding author: Andrew Hague, President of Cell Sonic, Professor of Advanced Medicine, President, Cellsonic, Manufacturers of Medical Equipment, United Kingdom DOI: 10.26717/BJSTR.2020.28.004674

Polymer materials used in medicine processed by additive techniques

The article presents an overview of currently used polymer materials in various areas of medicine. Most often, polymeric materials are used in the production of medical equipment, cardiology, surgery, dentistry. They are mainly used, among others for the production of gloves, surgical sutures, various type of containers, specula or drip. Currently, by using additive manufacturing techniques, anatomical models of bone structures, surgical templates and implants are made of polymer materials. Thanks to their use, it is possible to significantly reduce the duration of the procedure and increase its precision. By using biodegradable polymers, it is possible to regenerate or replace damaged or diseased tissues or organs. Based on the analysis carried out, huge progress was noted in the use of polymeric materials in the field of medicine through the use of additive methods. However, there is a need for further synthesis of new and modification of existing polymers in the aspect of contact with the patient’s body.

Multi Draw Radius Die Design for Increases in Limiting Drawing Ratio

As a major sheet metal process for fabricating cup or box shapes, the deep drawing process is commonly applied in various industrial fields, such as those involving the manufacture of household utensils, medical equipment, electronics, and automobile parts. The limiting drawing ratio (LDR) is the main barrier to increasing the formability and production rate as well as to decrease production cost and time. In the present research, the multi draw radius (MDR) die was proposed to increase LDR. The finite element method (FEM) was used as a tool to illustrate the principle of MDR based on material flow. The results revealed that MDR die could reduce the non-axisymmetric material flow on flange and the asymmetry of the flange during the deep drawing process. Based on this material flow characteristic, the cup wall stretching and fracture could be delayed. Furthermore, the cup wall thicknesses of the deep drawn parts obtained by MDR die application were more uniform in each direction along the plane, at 45°, and at 90° to the rolling direction than those obtained by conventional die application. In the present research, a proper design for the MDR was suggested to achieve functionality of the MDR die as related to each direction along the plane, at 45°, and at 90° to the rolling direction. The larger draw radius positioned for at 45° to the rolling direction and the smaller draw radius positioned for along the plane and at 90° to the rolling direction were recommended. Therefore, by using proper MDR die application, the drawing ratio could be increased to be 2.75, an increase in LDR of approximately 22.22%.

Applicability of Augmented Reality in an Organ Transplantation.

Augmented reality (AR) delivers virtual information or some of its elements to the real world. This technology, which has been used primarily for entertainment and military applications, has vigorously entered medicine, especially in radiology and surgery, yet has never been used in organ transplantation. AR could be useful in training transplant surgeons, promoting organ donations, graft retrieval and allocation, and microscopic diagnosis of rejection, treatment of complications, and post-transplantation neoplasms. The availability of AR display tools such as Smartphone screens and head-mounted goggles, accessibility of software for automated image segmentation and 3-dimensional reconstruction, and algorithms allowing registration, make augmented reality an attractive tool for surgery including transplantation. The shortage of hospital IT specialists and insufficient investments from medical equipment manufacturers into the development of AR technology remain the most significant obstacles in its broader application.

Reducing Waste and Increasing Sustainability in Health Care Settings.

Since the 1960s, plastic has been used in the production of medical equipment and products that improve patient comfort, safety, and treatment. Yet an unwelcome challenge has emerged in the years since: how to safely dispose of this material without negatively affecting human health and the environment. Working with medical devices and supplies that are constructed using plastics, nurses are at the forefront of this issue and must identify solutions, collaborate with other health care workers, and lead efforts to establish more sustainable options. This series is in collaboration with the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments (https://envirn.org).

АКТУАЛЬНІ ЗАВДАННЯ БІОМЕДИЧНОЇ ІНЖЕНЕРІЇ В УКРАЇНІ

The analysis of the urgent tasks of biomedical engineering is carried out and questions are formulated that need to be addressed at the state level, which will significantly increase the efficiency, safety and quality of healthcare, increase the profitability of operating expensive equipment, and will contribute to the revival of domestic production of medical equipment and materials and the implementation of EU regulations

An F-PROMETHEE technique for analysing the risk factors in green manufacturing

In the contemporary globalization, green manufacturing have achieved the more significance. Recently, many firms know about the importance of green because of the environmental and social concerns involved. Green manufacturing implementation is vital one for environment as well as improving the business. The goal of the green manufacturing is to protect the environment, prevent the pollution and also for waste reduction. But the adoption of green manufacturing is challenging for industrial managers because of the several risk factors involved in the firm. For the green manufacturing implementation, this paper aims to recognize and analyse the risk factors of green manufacturing and also to identify the critical alternative in Indian medical equipment manufacturing firm by using MCDM (Multi-Criteria decision making method) like F- PROMETHEE (Fuzzy Preference Ranking Organization method for Enrichment Evaluations). The outcomes of the paper will be surely useful for industrial managers for the implementation of green manufacturing in their firms.

Effects of high-efficiency infrared heating on fiber compatibility and weldline tensile properties of injection-molded long-glass-fiber-reinforced polyamide-66 composites

AbstractGlass fiber composites are prevalent molded materials used in various fields, including aviation engineering, automobile manufacturing, and medical equipment production. The length of a glass fiber affects the mechanical properties of a glass fiber composite. Studies have reported that breakage occurs in long fibers subjected to screw plasticization, injection processes, and geometrical changes in injection molding. Moreover, multigate injection molding can result in weldlines on the final product, consequently reducing its strength. Further exploration is required to determine how product strength is affected by weldlines generated through injection molding with glass fiber composites and how product tensile properties associated with weldlines can be improved. Therefore, this study designed a mold with a vent area and a plug-in mold-surface-heating device to examine changes in the weldlines and tensile properties of long-glass-fiber composite specimens fabricated through injection molding using two melts. The results revealed that fiber length decreased with increasing screw speed; such declines in fiber length affected the tensile strength of the long-glass-fiber-reinforced polyamide-66 composites. In addition, because the arrangement and distribution of the glass fibers were affected by the melt flow rate, melt flow direction, and changes in mold cavity volume, the weldline tensile strength varied with the depth of the vent area. Mold surface heating improved the specimen surface roughness by 5.79% and effectively improved the interfacial adhesion between the fibers and melts, thereby resulting in more favorable weldline tensile strength. This also notably reduced the depth of weldlines produced by the adhesion of two melts.

АВТОМАТИЧЕСКОЕ УСТРОЙСТВО ДЛЯ СЕРДЕЧНО - ЛЕГОЧНОЙ РЕАНИМАЦИИ НА БАЗЕ ЛИНЕЙНОГО ПНЕВМОПРИВОДА

The results of the analysis of the designs and functional capabilities of a number of devices for cardiopulmonary resuscitation by well-known manufacturers of medical equipment are presented, the basic schemes of force action on the chest are considered, the disadvantages that narrow the functionality and reliability of the devices are identified. A description is given of the design and principle of operation of an original automatic device for cardiopulmonary resuscitation based on a linear pneumatic drive with a tape chest bandage and with varying parameters of force exposure, depending on the size of the chest.

Quality efforts in medical supply chains considering patient benefits

We consider supply chain (SC) contracts in a new setting, the medical equipment industry, where concern for patient benefits is essential and quality efforts are critical for profits compared with supply chains (SCs) in other industries. It remains unclear how quality efforts and patient concern levels affect SC performance and how medical equipment manufacturers’ quality effort levels are linked to their patient concern levels. This study focuses on the impact of a manufacturer's and a retailer's patient concern levels on optimal pricing and quality decisions in an SC consisting of a manufacturer facing quality effort-dependent demand and a retailer in the medical equipment industry. We use the Stackelberg game to characterize and determine the optimal operational decisions in five scenarios and address the effects of patient concern levels under above five scenarios. A real case is studied and shows that optimized quality efforts can improve SC profits. The parameters settings are derived from the real data. Our findings bridge the gap between SC quality management and patient benefits and help to understand contract design in relation to patient concerns in different SC structures. This paper is among the earliest to investigate quality efforts for SC contract design in relation to patient concerns and to study SC contract design in the medical equipment industry. Our managerial insights are expected to help manufacturers move toward better quality effort decisions considering patient benefits and are also applicable to other SCs with effort-dependent demand and the effect of altruistic preferences.

Analysis and Study in Testing of Infrared Therapy Equipment

This article summarizes the common problems in registration and supervision testing of infrared therapy equipment, combines YY 0306-2008 Particular requirements for the safety of heat radiation therapy equipment, GB 9706.1-2007 Medical electrical equipment-Part 1:General requirements for safety, Registration technical review guidelines for infrared treatment equipment, etc. This paper analyzes and discusses the following aspects, including classification and applicable standards, performance indicators and overtemperature protection. Some suggestions and solutions are given to provide some guidance for medical equipment manufacturers in design, research and development and registration, in order to avoid the problem effectively and improve the passing rate of testing.