waIV(Systems Design Engineering)

Waiv UWaterloo Capstone Team

March 20th, 2023

As part of our FYDP/Capstone 2023 spotlights, we’re excited to introduce “WaIV” from the Systems Design Engineering team: Ben Clayton, Breah Tanner, Naomi Terhljan and Karla Pinzon! 

Explain your project in one sentence 

The WaIV aims to organise and separate IV lines surrounding bedridden adult intensive care unit patients during intrahospital transport, to improve the efficiency of treatment while increasing patient safety. 

What has been the best part of your project so far? 

Prototyping! We have loved seeing our project come to life using a combination of 3D printing, molding, and casting.  

What are the biggest challenges you've faced during the project? 

The frustrations during control testing. Remember wired earbuds? This is worse. 

In order to properly test our product, tangled IV scenarios need to be created, understood, and detangled. Our team put on some good music and got the job done. Once our prototype was part of the experiment, the detangling became much easier.

How does your project improve human lives and/or our planet's health? 

Tangled hospital lines are responsible for a variety of medical complications and untangling them results in an estimated yearly spending of over $180 million in Canadian nurse salaries. Our team’s goal is to create a simple, effective, and far-reaching final solution.  

What's next for your team members (ie: working full-time, looking for a job, starting a business, etc). 

After graduation, our team is working full-time in consulting, data analytics, and R&D!