In order to have a better understanding of the desired systems, the systems requirements and more importantly the ECMO support procedure as a whole and how effective it is in saving patients’ lives, a number of visits were arranged to HMC. The visits were significantly important to start with an initial design of the system. Since HMC is the client that the systems are designed and developed for, and the systems should in turn comply with the client’s requirements and specifications.

The first arranged visit to HMC was to observe a demo on adult ECMO cannulation simulator mannequin, developed by the previous team that consisted of electrical engineering (EE) students from QU. During demo the current team working on the project got to observe the process and procedure of cannulation and the simulation of blood flow through the system which clarified the ECMO support procedure to some extent. Moreover, the team had the chance to hear the feedback given to the previous team on their ECMO simulator performance from the doctors in HMC, which aided greatly in understanding the desired system constraints and requirements further. Hearing the feedback was an eye opener for the team, where it clarified what are some of the main complications that could possibly be faced when designing and implementing the system, while trying to meet the systems constraints and requirements. A couple of pictures where snapped during the demo.

The second visit was an arranged meeting with one of the main members of HMC’s ECMO team. The meeting was extremely beneficial and clarified many questions and complications that the current team had. During the meeting, the doctor suggested formulating a survey to collect information about the desired design, which is to design a neonatal and a pediatric ECMO cannulation simulator to be used for training purposes in HMC. Whereas the doctor suggested, a survey was formulated and distributed ECMO specialists to collect information on their existing pediatric and neonatal ECMO cannulation simulator systems for training purposes, and what are the improvements and features considered of value for a new cannulation simulator. The first draft of the survey was submitted to a small number of selected doctors to review the questions, especially the ones will complex medical ideas. Some doctors suggested that the questions need to be modified for the survey to become more specific. As a result, the survey underwent some major modifications. After receiving the doctor’s feedback, the team will distribute a new, modified and improved survey that could be observed in the appendix to collect responses and modify the systems designs based on the gathered results.

The third meeting was held with a paediatrician from Sidra Medicine, where a meeting with a paediatrician was essential for the team to have a better understanding about the nature of the anatomy of a child or an infant. The meeting clarified some major misconceptions and confusions the team had about the ECMO cannulation prosses for neonate and pediatric. Based on the information received in the meeting the simulator initial design went through major changes and modification since the difference between the cannulation process in an adult and in a child became clear, where in the initial design the system was quite similar to the simulator designed for adults with some minor difference. After this meeting, the team decision on whether or not there should be two different designs one for neonates and another for paediatric patients was final, where the team decided on having two separate designs. In the new design presented in Figure 3-2, the simulator was designed according to the information collected in the meeting about the cannulation process, methods and complications when it comes to neonate ECMO cannulation. On the other hand, according to the information collected from the meetings and from the doctor’s suggestions it was concluded that for the paediatric cannulation simulator the design will be closely based on the adult simulator design. The simulator should be a downsized version of the adult simulator design. However, it will still undergo several modifications and calibrations like when it comes to the cannulation sites sizes and dimensions, the blood flow rate simulation, the overall compactness of the system and desired mannequin size and dimensions

In the fourth visit the team discussed the project progress and showed the doctor the designed moulds simulating the cannulation sites. The doctor suggested making some modifications on the designed moulds and change of the mould borders and to change the IJV design form a circular cylinder to an oval cylinder for the design to be more realistic. The doctor also suggested that the heart mould should not be complex and detailed, instead the heart should just be represented as a cavity where, there will be no benefit from the details in this type of application.