Shocking an arrhythmic heart into a normal pattern using a defibrillator requires placing sticky electrode patches on optimal locations on the patient’s body before discharging the capacitors. But if delivered shocks are not productive, the patches cannot be repositioned quickly, and the only option remaining is to up the energy. A team of undergrad students at Johns Hopkins has developed a system that instead uses three electrodes, allowing a first responder to switch between two different pathways for the electricity to travel. The system won the first-prize in the undergraduate division of the national Collegiate Inventors Competition.
Moreover, the team also developed sensor pads that are used to apply appropriate pressure on top of the electrodes. A series of colored lights are activated depending on how hard they’re pushed, allowing a clinician to properly push on the electrodes before firing off a shock.
Here’s a video with more about the devices:
Johns Hopkins press statement: Johns Hopkins Students Win Inventors Contest’s Top Prizes for Heart Treatment Device and Cancer Test…