I-Corps: Flow regulated nasal oxygen delivery device

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of a medical device for monitoring the ventilation of patients receiving oxygen therapy by nasal cannula, and for autonomously adjusting ventilator settings based on the measurements of the monitor. Currently, nasal cannula patients in many hospitals are checked infrequently due to their relative non-severity compared to patients treated with positive pressure ventilation, and current cannula devices have no way to monitor patient ventilation. Taken together, this leads to delayed care due to staffing shortages and worsening outcomes due to the lack of an early warning system or any quantifiable patient data. A device that is designed to monitor the oxygen demands of cannula patients and autonomously react to increases/decreases in patient oxygen demands may improve outcomes in hospitals and enable hospitals to improve patient outcomes in the face of respiratory therapist staffing shortages. This I-Corps project is based on the development of a method for noninvasively estimating the flowrate of air through a patient’s nasal passage based on pressure measurements taken inside the nose during respiration. Using a specially designed cannula capable of taking these measurements during operation, the method may be used to estimate the volumes of air inspired by the patient during oxygen therapy. Successful estimation of these volumes requires careful data processing and detailed information about the relationship between air pressure and flow in the human nasal passage. A prototype device was shown to measure the inspired volumes of air in a mannequin with precision in the order of milliliters and accuracy in the order of 5%. These results indicate that the proposed technology may be implemented into a commercial medical device capable of monitoring and reacting to changes in the respiratory status of patients receiving oxygen therapy via nasal cannula. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.