Dear Aidan,
Here are some immediate thoughts in response having worked in a ICU environment, in no particular order:
The majority of patient have difficulty accessing any equipment whilst in bed, so mounting, orientation, interaction and seeing displays all become more difficult.
Electrical safety is more important due to the close proximity of direct invasive patient lines. An important parameter is the patient auxiliary leakage current associated with any mains device within the patient zone. Problems of electrical safety can be mostly overcome by using battery driven devices but care must be taken during the charging process.
I have directly asked manufactures abut the signal strengths of RF outputs to determine possible problems of interference. I would ask the MHRA directly if I had a particular device in mind.
In more general terms, nurses are generally good at lip reading as they are more familiar with each patient and their personal needs. However they can be very busy and under those circumstances important information can be gleaned by supporting the communication using structured phrases / symbols, listing items like, pain scores, dry lips, uncomfortable etc. Boardmaker is appropriate software for quickly producing laminated paper communication sheets.
The 'Tomy Megasketcher ' is like a 'magic slate' that allows some patients who are able to write, produce brief messages using a paperless medium without having writing positional difficulties.
just a few thoughts, hope it helps
Richard
Richard W Caley BSc, MSc, CSci, MIPEM
Clinical Scientist (Rehabilitation)
Medical Physics
Pinderfields Hospital
Wakefield, WF1 4DG
Tel: 01924 212234
Fax: 01924 212015
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