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RESEARCH & INTERVIEW
Mentor Interview
Although I came up with the idea for my project on my own, I interviewed professionals within the medical field to gain a better idea of how it really is like to have a career in healthcare. What I learned from the interview was that the largest changes within the operations of medical procedures are due to the advancement of technology. This change has not only made it easier to share and store information, it also has revolutionized how we can treat people and their condition. The the point that things as drastic as eradicating certain diseases such as smallpox is no longer fiction. Another thing that I took from this is that the enjoyability of your occupation in this field is largely dependent on who your patients are. Difficult patients exist, even though many people do not like to discuss them. Still, to healthcare professionals, a patient is a patient and they will do whatever it takes so that they receive the utmost care.
Research on Cloudcover
To begin development for Cloudcover, I started by looking at the primary basis of stopping blood in first aid- which is applying direct pressure. Applying direct pressure on a wound with some type of cloth or other absorbent material helps slow blood loss; along with this, the patient is either laid down flat on the ground on with his extremities held above the heart. This change is position slows blood flow as it is harder for blood to flow upwards rather then down if it is put in a mechanically disadvantage position concerning the heart. If direct pressure doesn't work well, pressure on an artery above the site of the injury should help. One step above this is using a tourniquet. A tourniquet can only be used on extremities, excluding the head. A tourniquet is any type of material that can be wrapped around an extremity about a wound and be tightened to stop blood flow. A well-executed tourniquet can cut off blood flow to an extremity by a considerable amount or even stop it all together. Moving onto wounds that are on the main or axial body, the main way to stop the bleeding is known as wound packing. Wound packing is when gauze is used to "pack" or stuff a wound to stop the bleeding by absorbing blood and creating a blockage. Using all of this knowledge, I came up with a foam! A foam that can fulfill these three rolls- constant pressure, cutting off blood flow with a tourniquet, and packing a wound. Foam can create a constant internal pressure as when it hardens, the blood pressure when blood is oozing out can push on the foam on all sides. Foam can also stop blood flow to an area if it is combined with platelets and fibrin whose function are to create blood clots. The expansive nature of foam can replace the action of wound packing as it can fill in injuries more completely.