Development of a wearable pressure bandage system for scorpion sting

Abstract

This paper presents a wearable pressure bandage system (ScorpioBand) to discourage unsafe first aid practices by scorpion sting victims. A pressure bandage is utilized to apply pressure over the entire surface around the sting point to reduce the likelihood of scorpion envenomation and pressure transducers were used to acquire bandage pressure signals. A Flexiforce pressure sensor interfaced with a PIC16F873A microcontroller based embedded device are the core components of the wearable system. A real-time simulation using myRIO embedded device and LabVIEW software was used to design the developed system. The developed ScorpioBand prototype was implemented as a waistband and it triggers a visual signal when a safe pressure limit is exceeded during application of the pressure bandage. The performance of the developed system was evaluated experimentally and an average bandage pressure of 48.96 mmHg was achieved with three layers of the bandage in 90% of the trial cases conducted by first-time users. The implication of the results is that inexperienced users in rural communities can apply the developed wearable bandage system to achieve the required bandage pressure for scorpion sting.