What Can a Salad Spinner Teach Us About Healthcare Costs?
For years we have pumped a tremendous amount of money into research and design to develop innovative drugs or diagnostic equipment to identify and cure diseases. I’m not opposed to the amount of dollars invested in research and design but sometimes you wonder with all the money being invested, could simpler and less costly ideas be implemented that could be deployed to third world countries and not just developed countries?
I came across this story of two innovative Rice University undergraduate students, Lauren Theis and Lila Kerr, who were given an assignment to solve a problem. As Theis explains, “We were essentially told we need to find a way to diagnose anemia without power, without it being very costly and with a portable device."
With this in mind the two set out to find a low cost solution. They took a basic salad spinner and modified it to be able to transport centrifuge that is able separate blood and allow the accurate diagnosis of anemia. This is done without using any electricity.
As shared in the news article, "In rural, under-served and impoverished parts of the world, a positive diagnosis for anemia is a critically important clue when looking for other health problems such as malnutrition, or serious chronic infectious diseases such as malaria and HIV/AIDS. Until now, blood samples taken in the field would have to be sent to a distant location complete with expensive laboratory centrifuges and electricity, while patients would be left waiting for the results — a lapse in time that can be deadly. Being able to diagnose the condition in real time with "Sally Centrifuge" would allow appropriate treatment to begin before an illness progresses and a patient's condition deteriorates too drastically”
What can a salad spinner teach us about healthcare costs? Sometimes the most effective and easily affordable solution has already been developed … just not for healthcare per se.
Photo Credit: Jeff Fitlow/Rice University