New device invented at Queen Elizabeth Hospital to save lives

A device invented by doctors in Lynn’s hospital will be helping to save patients’ lives across the country.

Doctors at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital’s critical care unit invented a device to prevent rare arterial line errors called the Arterial Glucosave.

The device, invented by Dr Maryanne Mariyaselvam and Dr Peter Young, helps prevent glucose being confused for saline by alerting the clinician.

This then saves the patient from complications in which they receive high-levels of insulin.

Medical device development company, Medovate, has secured the rights for the fourth device invented by the Critical Care Unit.

The device has also received £114,000 from medical technology funding scheme, Medtech Accelerator.

Dr Mariyaselvam said: “We want to save patients from coming to harm but we also want to help doctors and nurses to their jobs in a safe and efficient way.

“It is very exciting that our idea is going to become a reality.”

If a patient does receive a high dose of insulin it can lead to low blood pressure and fatal brain injury.

The Glucosave has been designed to change colour to highlight if glucose is present to the nurse or doctor completing the procedure.

There is a danger in fast-paced units that glucose could be administered instead of the recommended sodium chloride flush.

“This is a relatively rare error to make and following a number of incidents in hospitals from across the country, we wanted to engineer a solution to prevent this from happening”, said Dr Young.

“What we have done is put into place a simple procedure that gives the clinician a big warning when they are about to make that mistake.”

Mistakes in the arterial line administration are reported around three times per month to NHS England.