Team Flow

Mission:

Team Flow’s mission is to develop an accurate, user-friendly, and cost-effective device to monitor the release of intravenous fluids reducing the burden of manual IV tracking in under resourced medical settings.

**Dinner with our primary collaborator, Emmanuel Acheampong in Kumasi, Ghana**

Background:

In Ghana, lower-respiratory illnesses, HIV/AIDS, malaria, and diarrheal diseases account for 28% of deaths. All of these conditions can require extended intravenous fluid line (IV) use. Currently, nurses in hospitals and clinics in Ghana frequently go from bed to bed and manually count and re-calculate IV drip rates. In highly-crowded facilities, this can become an overwhelming and error-prone process.

**Visiting the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at KATH**

Collaborations:

Our design considerations are grounded in our collaboration with the emergency department at Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi, Ghana. The team’s outreach began with M-HEAL’s Service and Needs Assessment trip to Guatemala and the University of Michigan’s Global Health Design Initiative trip to Ghana. During spring break of 2024 we returned to Ghana to strengthen our partnership with KATH. These experiences provided insightful feedback from the nurses, physicians, and other staff on specific IV administration needs.

**Prototype with test tube as IV drip chamber**

Our Solution:

We have used our findings to guide the latest development of our device, which utilizes an infrared light based circuit to track infusion rate. Our design is compact, low cost, and easily integrates with IV administration equipment. We are currently preparing our minimum viable prototype to present to our partners in Ghana when we return in December of 2025.

Our annual cider mill trip circa Fall 2023

Recruitment 2025:

We are recruiting for our engineering and business subteams for Fall 2025! No prior experience required- our team has prepared educational resources to teach you everything you need to know from the ground up. The most valuable traits you can demonstrate to make your application stand out is a genuine interest in our mission, and excitement about bringing ideas to the table and helping us grow.