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SINGAPORE – A syringe cap that is currently used in the emergency department of several hospitals here started as a student project in 2017.
The device reduces the risk of users administering the wrong dose of medication.
The syringe brake is a series of 1 milliliter tabs attached to the plunger of a syringe.
A user who wants to administer 2 ml of medicine would break two tabs of the device at the narrow end of the syringe, which is used to both dilute and administer the medicine.
When the correct dose has been delivered, the device prevents more medication from flowing.
The development of the syringe brake follows a collaboration between Changi General Hospital and Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD).
Explaining the need for such a device, CGH and SUTD said: “It is crucial to reduce the risk of medication errors by ensuring that the user administers the correct dose with the correct labeling and proper communication.”
Syringe Brake was developed by Ms. Felicia Soon, a SUTD Alumnus, and Ms. Yasmin Ng, Senior Lead Pharmacist at CGH.
The project began during an eight-week course that Ms. Soon, now 25, took in 2017 as part of her degree program in Engineering Product Development.
The course, which has since been extended to 13 weeks, sees senior SUTD engineering students apply their engineering design expertise to develop medical and healthcare solutions.
Ms. Soon, who has since graduated and is now doing further studies, came up with a prototype, which was developed by Ms. Ng, 45 years old.
PHOTO SAN: ARIFFIN JAMAR
The hospital and SUTD said they then underwent tests at CGH and various hospitals in Singapore in 2018, with CGH finally bringing it to market the following year.
Since then, it has been implemented in the emergency departments of various hospitals in Singapore, CGH and SUTD said.
Ms. Soon said that since the device is separate from the syringe, it allows for wider use.
For example, it can be used for intravenous bolus applications, where medication is rapidly delivered to the bloodstream.
Ms Ng added: “With the processes in place to ensure drug safety and use of the syringe brake, CGH accident and emergency patient care areas remained without an intravenous bolus error for almost three years, from 2017 to 2020 “.
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