The primary goal of the project is to improve lower the mortality rate in future outbreaks of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) by improving the quality of care delivered by health care workers in the field. We will do this by analyzing current care procedures, determining what can be effectively automated and/or performed by a robot system, and then implementing, testing, and evaluating this automation. The communities most impacted by the work in this proposal will be those suffering from EVD during the next outbreak where some of the technology developed .here is deployed. A secondary community is the health care providers, such as Medecins Sans Frontieres, with whom we will collaborate on this work. The secondary goal of this project is to develop a methodology and approach for introducing robotics and automation into public health care settings, with a focus on improving overall patient outcomes. Although this specific work in this proposal addresses EVD, much of what we learn will be applicable to a wide variety of public health care settings.
The specific aims of this proposal are:
Aim 1 : Build mathematical models of MSF procedures for the care of patients with Ebola Aim 2: Identify high-value tasks and subtasks most suitable for automation Aim 3: Automate selected tasks and sub-tasks, and compare overall system performance

Public Health Relevance

NIBIB: Integrates engineering with the life sciences to improve the treatment of disease, and includes studies to assess the effectiveness of new processes incorporating robotic devices. NICDH: Improve effectiveness of rehabilitation treatments for people with disabilities by reducing mundane workload burden on health care providers through automation, allowing them to focus on patients. NINOS: Improve stroke rehabilitation through automated reminders and compliance-checking, and also free up health care providers from mundane tasks, to spend more time with patients.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01EB024330-02
Application #
9360113
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZEB1)
Program Officer
Wolfson, Michael
Project Start
2016-09-30
Project End
2019-06-30
Budget Start
2017-07-01
Budget End
2018-06-30
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
2017
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
Oregon State University
Department
Engineering (All Types)
Type
Biomed Engr/Col Engr/Engr Sta
DUNS #
053599908
City
Corvallis
State
OR
Country
United States
Zip Code
97331