LeviChair

Inspiration

In 2010, among all occupations, nursing aides, orderlies, and attendants, had the highest rates of musculoskeletal disorder at 249 per 10,000 workers. That's 7.32 times higher than average for workers. In order to address this problem affecting healthcare providers, we are developing a device to help nurses stay safe on the job.

What it does

A liftable, reclinable wheelchair with detachable arms could solve several issues with current patient transfer. The design would be easily implemented into powered wheelchairs, and non-powered reclinable wheelchairs could easily be rolled onto a simple scissor-lift that could fulfill the lifting criteria. This would be a much safer alternative to suspending the patient in midair, and far more comfortable. Such a device would greatly increase patient quality of life, as the patient sling is frequently listed by geriatric patients as one of the largest sources of uncomfortability in a hospital or nursing home setting. Additionally, this would greatly reduce safety risks on the nursing side by removing the need of physical exertion and the complicated procedure of loading a patient sling

How we built it

We created CAD renderings of our device and also sketched out mock dimensions.

Challenges we ran into

Pinpointing a single solution to the problem we found is hard, but LeviChair is the answer to address those needs.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Successful 3D modeling and rendering of our design in Solidworks.

What we learned

Even nurses have risks on the job when it comes to patient care. Future care options should address this risk and provide a safe and comfortable treatment experience for both the nurse and the patient.

What's next for LeviChair

A working prototype and more conversations with clinicians and patients would be the next step in developing LeviChair.