Inspirational AVS students have eight projects in BT Young Scientists final

STUDENT: Grace Masterson 

CATEGORY: Intermediate Technology 

PROJECT-TITLE: A personal mobile device holder for medical environments. 

APPROACH: My sister works in the second largest children's hospital in the UK as a radiographer. In her department the children they treat are encouraged to use tablets while the treatment (ie. chemo/contrast for kidneys)is in progress. This means that sometimes the healthcare assistant has to hold the device for the child while the scan is taking place and so then they are not able to fulfill their role of assisting the radiographer. I want to design a personal mobile device holder that will do this job using long, flexible arms that can be manipulated and will not interfere with the treatment process or obstruct patient access by medical staff in emergencies or equipment in hospital settings. I have extensively researched currently available personal device holders and have found that these are usually not sufficiently flexible to hold the device and obstruct access to the patient. Many of them are also floor-standing which again is not ideal in a hospital setting and this has been confirmed by the radiographers that I have spoken to about my project. I have decided to make my device with a wire core and a flexible polymer coating. I am currently investigating different metal wires and metal wire diameters to ensure that the skeleton of my device is sufficiently flexible but strong enough to hold up the tablet. Once I have optimised the attachment of the arms of my device to the adjustable tablet holder, then I will coat the skeleton in the flexible polymer. Additionally, I want to test the material for the ability to be easily sanitised for use in a sterile environment.