Samueli School of Engineering

Thousands of hospitalized children require constant intravenous (IV) fluid treatments. However, IV delivery tends to limit pediatric patients’ mobility. Current standards of care require an IV pole which can be cumbersome; it limits pediatric patient mobility and poses dangers of tripping and infection to the patient. These issues can take away from patients’ quality of life. There are currently no wearable inpatient fluid infusion systems specifically designed for pediatric patients. We have developed a portable and wearable system to administer IV fluids to pediatric patients while facilitating easier mobility both in hospital and home settings, without the use of a cumbersome IV pole. Key features of our product include safety guardrails for infusion rates, comfort and weight distribution for the patients, flow rate sensors, long battery life, and compatibility with currently used pump systems in the hospital. After interviewing pediatric nurses and the parents of pediatric patients, we formed our design criteria and manufactured our final prototype by sewing the backpack with a wipeable, medical grade fabric and constructing the housing for our IV bag, tubing, and pump components. Verification and validation tests were conducted to ensure hardware and software components met the predetermined design criteria. Our final product is unique as it seamlessly works in both inpatient and outpatient settings, such that nurses can easily operate it and program the necessary medications and fluids for their pediatric patients in the hospital and parents can be trained to operate it at home.