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Texas MakerHealth Space will facilitate the creation of care solutions by nurses

by Thomas Dworetzky, Contributing Reporter | October 02, 2015
Health IT Medical Devices Population Health Primary Care
Nurses, those too-often unheralded medical device innovators, finally have a place to give their creativity free range. The MakerHealth Space, a joint effort of The MakerNurse project and The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, Texas, has now opened its doors.

MakerNurse co-creators Jose Gomez-Marquez and Anna Young debuted their project at the New York Maker Faire last year.

“We know from our research that some of the best DIY technologies being used in hospitals and clinics around the world are the work of nurses. Yet these stealth innovators do not receive the recognition, support, tools, or training that they need to maximize their ability to transform the way health care hardware is created and used,” Gomez-Marquez told Discover Magazine at the time. The project was also slated to be highlighted at the just-completed Maker Faire 2015.

The Texas facility is the first makerspace in the country for health care workers. One of the early users of the MakerHealth Space in the John Sealy Hospital described his experience in a YouTube video made available by UTMB Galveston.

Jason Schaeffer, a nurse in the UTMB Blocker Burn Unity, described how he created a shower system for chemical burn victims. "I had an idea for building an attachment that would hook up to a water source and spray several sprayers over  patients and allow for a long irrigation time without requiring a nurse.

"Burn nurses as a rule are extremely creative people. It's a very artistic type of care that we do. I think this is the kind of thing that would be a big hit with them."

The burn specialist's unique solution is one of many, noted Gomez-Marquez. “Health-making takes the art of nursing to the next level,” he noted. “With the MakerHealth Space, nurses can take that epiphany that they’ve had at the bedside for how to improve the patient experience, and actually make it into something they can hold in their hand.”

The makerspace has all the bits and pieces nurses have used for years, plus some state-of-the-art gadgetry, to create solutions to care dilemmas -- adhesives and fasteners, such as Velcro and zip ties; textiles and electronics, including sensors and microcontrollers; and a range of tools, from pliers and sewing needles to 3-D printers and laser cutters.

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