A product designed by two entrepreneurial medical graduates could soon be helping to reduce the spread of hospital-acquired infections such as MRSA.
The pair have designed a disposable tourniquet which they believe will pose no infection risk and which they hope will provide a cheap, comfortable alternative to the tourniquets currently in use. They estimate that it will cost the same to manufacture as a rubber glove, which is frequently used as a make-shift tourniquet. They developed the product whilst studying at Imperial College London.
Tourniquets are essential in helping medical staff find a vein when they are taking blood samples or inserting a drip. They are wrapped around limbs and tightened, restricting blood flow so that the veins swell and become more visible.
The designers of the new product suggest that most of the tourniquets currently in use pose an infection risk because they are reusable and could therefore carry infective organisms from patient to patient. Disposable alternatives do exist but the pair believes these are largely expensive and lack ease of use. For expediency, many medical professionals currently use a rubber glove, but these are often uncomfortable and can cause problems such as latex allergies or trauma to the skin. Around 40 million procedures using a tourniquet are performed each year in the NHS alone.
The tourniquet invented by the Imperial students, which is named Tournistrip (TM), is a long band made of a form of plasticized paper with similar dimensions to a watch strap. It is fastened using a quick seal, quick release sticking mechanism and its origins are based on wrist bands used for security at large events such as concerts. This means that the team has been able to use existing production techniques for such bands to keep costs low.
Ryan Kerstein, one of the inventors of the device, who qualified as a doctor from Imperial College in 2006 said: "Throughout our training there was always a lot of emphasis on infection control and good clinical technique. Watching some of our colleagues in the hospital environment it struck us that even though their technique was stringent they were limited by the re-usable equipment available.”