More than skin deep
Tackling the damage and discomfort caused by life-changing devices
Billions of pounds are ploughed into treating problems created by life-supporting and essential devices every year. There’s a real juxtaposition between hospital devices supporting life but also causing chronic skin damage and scarring. It’s an issue that a multidisciplinary team from Health Sciences and Engineering is tackling, bringing benefits to both patients and purses.
Through addressing device design, materials and patient monitoring, the Skin Health Group is pioneering new methods that could change the lives of people living with the long-lasting effects of pressure ulcers and scarring.
The team from Health Sciences, comprising Professor Dan Bader, Professor Lisette Schoonhoven and Dr Peter Worsley, led the EPSRC-NIHR funded Medical Device and Vulnerable Skin Network from 2014 to 2019. This brought together academics, industry, and clinicians to address two key challenges: optimising medical device designs and creating intelligent monitoring to promote self-management.
We developed bespoke sensors that can tell us when a problem could occur. We use pressure mapping and intelligent algorithms to determine how often people move and how likely it is they will get a problem.
Read the full story in Re:action, the University’s research and enterprise magazine.
Related Staff Member
Emeritus Professor Dan L Bader BSc, MSc, PhD, DSc
Emeritus Professor Dan Bader is a physicist by training (BSc, MSc) with a PhD in Bioengineering at the University of Southampton. His postdoc position at Oxford University focused on engineering aspects of pressure ulcer (PU) prevention. He later moved to Queen Mary, University of London (QMUL) as a lecturer in Biomaterials leading Soft Tissue Research in the EPSRC Funded IRC in Biomedical Materials (1991-2002).
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Prof. Lisette Schoonhoven BSc, MSc, PhD
Prof. Lisette Schoonhoven is a Professor of Nursing at the School of Health Sciences at the University of Southampton.
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Dr Peter Worsley BSc, MCSP, PhD
Dr Peter Worsley is a Associate Professor within Health Sciences at the University of Southampton.
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Professor Liudi Jiang CEng, CPhys, FIET
Professor Liudi Jiang is Professor of Materials and Electromechanical Systems within Engineering and Physical Sciences, and Head of the Engineering Materials Group.
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Dr Alex Dickinson MEng, PhD, CEng, FIMechE
Dr Alex Dickinson is an Associate Professor at the University of Southampton, researching the biomechanics and design of prosthetic limbs, and teaching engineering design and structural analysis. He co-founded the People Powered Prosthetics group, works in the Bioengineering Science Research Group, and he is a Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and the Higher Education Academy.
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Dr Joshua Steer PhD
Joshua is a RAEng Enterprise Fellow and Founder of University spinout Radii Devices based in the Future Worlds Accelerator space and Bioengineering Sciences Research group. His work centres around development and commercialisation of in-clinic tools to support clinicians in the design of prosthetic limbs for people with amputation.
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