Laerdal Medical |
The man has fallen to the ground. He lies motionless. One of the paramedics ventilates him in order to oxygenate his blood. The other paramedic performs heart compressions. The situation is critical. Appropriate resuscitation can save the life of the man.
It could be a cardiac arrest, but it isn't. It's a training session for emergency situations. The man on the ground is a manikin, but not any manikin. It comes from Laerdal Medical and simulates vital functions of the human body. |
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| Paramedics training for an emergency situation |
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Geir Inge Tellnes is a software engineer at Laerdal Medical in Stavanger, Norway. He describes the technology in the products offered.
The field is emergency care training. Customers are hospitals, ambulances, first aid organizations and educational institutions among others
– We are dominant in our core product areas, simulators and training products for basic life support, says Geir Inge Tellnes. |
Realistic emergency scenarios |
The manikins replicate vital signs so that a diagnosis can be made. The blood pressure can be measured realistically. Heartsounds and breathing are audible. The realism of the indications is crucial for effective training.
The manikin can be treated according to its symptoms. It has artificial veins that can be used to give injections. Defibrillation to start the heart with electrical shocks replicates the same effect as it would on a real human. Responses of vital human functions can be monitored to evaluate the treatment.
Software is developed for PC and microcontroller platforms for realistic training scenarios.
– There are embedded solutions in most of our training manikins, says Geir Inge Tellnes. |
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| SimMan is a portable and advanced patient simulator for team training. |
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Analyzing risks |
The simulators and training products are not defined as medical devices but other products fall within the definition, for example the QCPRTM product and resuscitators to ventilate patients. Therefore authorities demand quality assurance. Laerdal Medical is certified according to ISO9001 and ISO13485.
Risk management and risk analysis are important during product development. Risks involved in using the product are pinpointed at an early stage of development. The severity of the risk decides the measures needed.
The best way to take care of risks is to identify them early in development and improve the design to reduce the risk. Sometimes technical solutions are needed to avoid hazard.
– Since our products aren't defined as high risk products we don't use parallel systems for safety but often two processors are used to supervise each other. One processor does the actual job while the other checks for hazardous conditions.
Quality assurance includes aspects that influence the final quality of the product. The compiler is such an aspect.
– We need to validate the compiler for its intended use in our products. The vendor's development process and bug lists are important inputs to the validation process. |
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| Q-CPR is a clinical measurement and feedback tool that will have an impact on the quality of CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) that is delivered by professional rescuers in the field. |
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Choosing compiler |
Geir Inge Tellnes needed a compiler in his project. Production in large volumes was planned. Hardware costs needed to be cut. A low-price single chip microcontroller was chosen for the project.
– The main advantage is that most peripheral units are on the chip. The price of the microcontroller, peripheral units and circuit board is kept to a minimum.
On the other hand the memory was limited. Compiler optimizations for code size gained importance.
The choice of compiler was based on the results of an evaluation
– We reached the conclusion that IAR Embedded Workbench was best suited in terms of code size and efficiency.
The highest level of size optimization is used in the project. Debugging is sometimes affected.
– Debugging can be difficult because it's not always possible to place the breakpoints as required. But most of the time it's not a problem.
Geir Inge Tellnes has been in contact with IAR Systems technical support occasionally. He's satisfied with the service.
– The response is within the promised time limit, says Geir Inge Tellnes |
Future development technologies |
Laerdal Medical tries to keep up with the latest development technology. Programming languages are C or C++. Parts of UML are used for modeling.
– UML takes a while to master. I use class diagrams, component diagrams, sequence diagrams and state charts, says Geir Inge Tellnes. |
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| SimMan has realistic anatomy and clinical functionality. |
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From toys to medical technology |
Plastic is an important part of the product. The manikins feel human to touch. Hard bones can be felt under soft tissue. The skill to mould in soft plastic has a surprising origin.
Laerdal started as a toy company. Dolls for children were manufactured in the 1950ies. The first step towards future business was the production of artificial wounds.
A new method for resuscitation was tested in 1958. Mouth-to-mouth-resuscitation was found to be effective. Laerdal designed the plastic manikin for training.
Since then Laerdal Medical has grown to be an international company in medical technology.
– We are about 79 engineers in the development department in Stavanger, says Geir Inge Tellnes. The department is interdisciplinary: software, electronics, mechatronics and plastics.
Geir Inge Tellnes enjoys working at Laerdal Medical.
– The projects are exciting and I learn new things all the time. I'm happy to get a chance to develop my talents.
On the subject of future training products for emergency care Geir Inge Tellnes becomes hesitant.
– Patient simulators will grow more advanced but it's difficult for me to describe details without revealing corporate secrets. |
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Organization: Laerdal Medical AS
Employees: 1200 in 22 countries
Turnover: 270 million USD (2005)
Objectives: Meet quality assurance requirements, cut hardware costs in production
IAR Systems offering: IAR Embedded Workbench with support and update agreement
Benefits: Efficient code generation allows use of low-cost microcontroller, access to local technical support |
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| Shortcut to this page: http://www.iar.com/laerdal |
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