ANOTHER METHOD TO IMPROVE INTUBATION: BabySim is a model shaped like a life-sized baby. It can blink, move its chest, cry, exhale, and cough, among other movements. It functions much like the barcode systems used at supermarket checkout counters. External information is converted into electrical signals, causing the BabySim to react much like a normal baby would when, for example, given a certain type of medication. The simulator can also allow caregivers to perform clinical tasks like tracheal intubation, insertion of IVs or bladder catheters, and chest compressions, providing realistic clinical scenarios.
HOW LEDS WORK: LEDs are essentially tiny light bulbs that fit into an electrical circuit, but they are lit solely by the movement of electrons in a semiconducting material. A diode is the simplest semiconductor device. It is made by bonding a section of a positively-charged material to a section of a negatively-charged material with electrodes on each end so that it only conducts electricity (in the form of free-moving electrons) in one direction whenever a voltage is applied to the diode. Electrons move in a series of fixed orbits around the nuclei of atoms. Whenever an electron absorbs extra energy from the added voltage, it jumps to a higher orbital, and when it returns to a lower orbital, it emits the extra energy as a photon -- a particle of light. LEDs are specially constructed to emit a large number of photons, unlike ordinary diodes. LEDs are also housed in plastic bulbs to concentrate the light in a particular direction. LED lighting consumes 50 percent less energy than traditional sources. It is four times more energy efficient than regular light bulbs because more of the energy is converted into light than is lost as heat.
The Optical Society contributed to the information contained in the TV portion of this report.