A novel system to enable quick and accurate determination of blood loss during surgery

TEAM: Joshua Szental (Western Health), Eric Schoof and Kevin Kevin (University of Melbourne, Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology) and Damon Beckwith (University of Melbourne, Business Development).

An estimated 10-15 per cent of surgery results in major bleeding. During an episode of major bleeding, determining the exact level of blood loss is time consuming and distracts from other areas of patient care that are equally time critical. Inaccurate assessment of blood fluid loss can lead to improperly treated acute haemorrhage, with significant side effects especially in elderly or compromised patients. A cross-disciplinary, inter-institutional team aims to assist surgical staff with monitoring the net blood loss of patients during surgery through a system of automated, accurate, and real time measurements. This system will reduce cognitive load on surgical staff by automating calculations that are currently manual and ad hoc, and also improve patient outcomes by reducing cases of undetected moderate and severe intrasurgical blood loss.