Description
The electrocautery is a widely used surgical instrument due to its versatility, relatively low cost, and ease of use. Despite its many benefits, a major drawback of the electrocautery is the smoke that it produces when cutting through tissue. The smoke creates a strong odor which some surgeons say can be distracting and unpleasant. Surgeons are exposed to this smoke on a regular basis as it is produced in nearly all surgical procedures.
While research has shown the surgical smoke to be carcinogenic, little effort has been made to address this problem in Chinese hospitals. The current solution to this problem is to have an assistant hold a suction tube near the surgical site to remove the smoke; however, this solution is not very effective because the majority of the smoke escapes into the surrounding air. The goal of this project is to design a method to reduce the effects of smoke produced by the electrocautery in order to reduce the unpleasant smell and risk of lung cancer for medical personnel.
Understanding the subtle cultural difficulties in the setting of intended use is close to impossible without the full immersion into that setting. Without knowing the true difficulties and how they are managed, other teams who we have had contact with have difficulty meeting the demands of their end users. Other student design teams struggle to fully understand the user requirements and find it hard to achieve them with a completed prototype based off literature before initiating contact with the end user.
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