Doctors with disabilities managed to overcome a great deal of challenges to be able to perform their professional duties. The challenges keep on coming, though, because tools that physicians use were almost never designed with disabilities in mind.
A couple of folks at the University of Michigan wanted to help out a physician-in-training, that happens to use a wheelchair, to perform routine physical exams. They created a special device that lets her get close to the patient to examine the nose, throat, ears, eyes, and skin, all without having her nor the patient get into awkward positions.
It’s essentially a handheld wired camera and a display that can be placed nearby. The video can be zoomed in on, enhanced, and viewed through different devices.
They’re also working on including pressure sensors to allow for different neurological exams to be performed without having to contact the patient directly.
Though the device is being used by a single medical student, the findings from her experience are being used to improve its next design iterations.
Here’s a video report from University of Michigan:
