Communications of the ACM
Burns App Could Save Lives at the Touch of a Button
The Mersey Burns app enables doctors to make exact and quick calculations.
Credit: university of Manchester
Mersey Burns, an iPhone and iPad app created by University of Manchester student Chris Seaton, has the potential to save the lives of soldiers and prevent severe disfigurement from burns.
Other researchers at Manchester, plastic surgeons at St. Helens and Knowsley NHS Trust, and academics at the University of Liverpool also contributed to the app's creation.
Seaton decided to develop a tool to limit errors in treating burn victims after witnessing the horrific injuries caused by burns to fellow soldiers. Doctors normally make a series of pen and paper calculations to assess the ideal amount of fluids for burn injuries, but the margin for error is high and the method is time-consuming.
Mersey Burns enables doctors to make exact and quick calculations. On a touchscreen phone, doctors color in the area on a computer model of a torso that corresponds to the burn area, add the person's age and weight, and the app instantly calculates the precise amounts of fluids. Soldiers would be able to launch the application themselves if there are no medics nearby in combat zones, and in tests the app reduced errors made by pen and paper by one third.
From University of Manchester
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