Design of a Novel Mechanical Syringe Pump for Neonatal Care in Low-Resource Settings

Hospitals in the developing world lack access to an affordable means of administering intravenous therapy at the accuracy required for neonates. This paper presents the design and performance of a mechanical syringe pump for delivering IV therapy in low-resource settings. Current available syringe pumps are limited to electronic pumps and disposable mechanical pumps. Commercially available electronic syringe pumps, frequently used in the developed world, are expensive, require highly trained technical personnel, and rely on an electricity source, so they are unfeasible for developing world clinics. Disposable mechanical pumps, on the other hand, require specialized one-time-use equipment and can produce only one flow rate per syringe size. We introduce a novel mechanical syringe pump specifically designed to make proper neonatal IV therapy accessible to low-resource hospitals. The device consists of a gravity-based driver that operates independent of electrical power and a metronome-inspired clockwork mechanism for regulation of flow rate. It features a simple user interface for quick and easy setup before operation and costs less than $100. A prototype of the design was constructed and tested using water in 20 cc, 30 cc, and 60 cc syringes at room temperature (25°C). Results show that the device is capable of producing a variety of flow rates between 5 cc/hr and 40 cc/hr for standard syringe sizes with errors within 15%. Based on these results, the system has been shown to be a feasible option for low-resource hospitals requiring a safe, inexpensive, and easy-to-use method of neonatal IV therapy.