The health care environment is often a hectic, fast-paced, and sometimes hazardous workplace for nurses and other providers. One of those hazards is the risk of developing painful and often debilitating carpel tunnel syndrome from repeatedly grinding pills into powder form by hand. Nurses do this for patients who cannot swallow pills and need their medications mixed with water or juice.
Dennis Kruger, owner of AB Innovations in Vancouver, British Columbia, with the help of the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT), invented the Electronic Pill Crusher to help nurses with pill preparation.
The crusher is lightweight, portable, easy to use, and powered by rechargeable batteries. This device relieves nurses of the task of crushing pills by hand and performing the same repetitive motion hundreds of times a day. It also increases nursing staff efficiency by saving time.
With $23,000 in funding from AB Innovations, BCIT designers Gordon Thiessen, Matt Greig, and Nancy Knaggs developed the device from 2005 to 2006. A plastic bag of pills is inserted into the crusher. When a button is pressed, the motor and rotating crusher head are activated. Different crushing modes are available for uncoated pills, coated pills or multiple pills.
The Electronic Pill Crusher can be used 1,000 times or more before it needs recharging. AB Innovations is currently licensing the technology to a medical device manufacturer.
To see available technologies from research institutions, click here to visit the AUTM Innovation Marketplace.