Wearable Surgical Tools Tracker

Resident surgeons must complete a certain required number of hours before they're certified. Often times, the completion of this required threshold is a skewed benchmark: residents may have been present in the operation room but may not have spent the signed off hours performing surgeries. It is also worthwhile to have a granulated account of what particular tools were used during the surgery to assess the specific skills gained by a resident. For example, if a resident wields the suction tube for the entire surgery, it is safe to state that at that particular surgery, the resident didn't gain any skills central to the surgical procedure.

With this in mind, we developed the following solution:

Breakdown Diagram of Surgery Tracking Wearable

RFID Testing

To test the flexibility we have with the coil of the RFID reader, we opened up a tag and tested the range of the reader after altering the coil. We learned that bending the coil, folding it, and tilting it cause the range to deteriorate.

The test involved soldering the ruggedised coil. Simple testing demonstrated the range was maintained in the original orientation of the coil.

Wearable Hardware Prototyping

3D Printed Electronics Casing with Wearable Strap

This is the first 3D print of the CAD file for the module in which we were able to attach the fit bit bands to. However, the hinge on the bottom component with the top component did not properly fit (which is why it's being held up in the photo).