Smart “Ventilator Alarm System”: An Exemplar of Taiwan’s Medical Research and Development
The smart “ventilator alarm system” co-developed by Dr. Kuo-Kai Shyu, Chair Professor at the Department of Electrical Engineering of NCU, and the medical research team from Landseed International Hospital, will benefit critically ill patients in intensive care units (ICU).
In order to effectively monitor and take care of patients as well as to reduce health workers’ workload, Dr. Kuo-Kai Shyu, Chair Professor at the Department of Electrical Engineering of National Central University, and the medical research team led by Dr. Chin-Pyng Wu, Associate Dean at Landseed International Hospital, co-developed the smart “ventilator alarm system.” The system can precisely provide the optimum ventilation volume per minute for individual patients; moreover, it can immediately sound the alarm when the breath parameter is abnormal. This alarm system was highly praised and was granted patents in the U.S., China, and Taiwan, respectively.
“According to the clinical treatment records from Landseed International Hospital in the past two or three decades, ventilators have always been manually adjusted by respiratory therapists with corresponding clinical experiences. However, manual adjustment may not suit each patient’s need. In order to monitor patients’ conditions more effectively, the research team came up with the idea of developing the automatic control system, which combines the clinical experiences with theoretical analysis and exact algorithms. This control system is installed on the ventilator in order to automatically and precisely provide the optimum ventilation volume per minute, making patients breathe smoothly and providing a real-time alarm,” stated Dr. Kuo-Kai Shyu.
Servo motor control is one of Dr. Shyu’s research specializations. In his early research career, Dr. Shyu developed a “smart nursing system” to support critically ill and thus bedridden patients, enabling those patients to retrieve autonomy and self-esteem. Dr. Shyu always takes humanistic concerns into consideration when developing his research. In recent years, he focuses on the research and development of a ventilator control platform for having patients receive better treatment and reducing the workload of frontline health workers. The platform will demonstrate to the world the energy of Taiwan’s medical research and development.