D4D’s network partners, the Medical Devices and Vulnerable Skin Network Plus (MDVSN Plus) release their fifth and final Annual Report, for 2018-19. 

The global aim of the MDVSN^PLUS – Intelligent sensing to promote self-management – was designed to bring disruptive technologies to the medical device market to promote sustainable evolution and long-term healthcare improvements.

Over the Network^PLUS period, 14 external projects (~£280k) were funded and partnership with colleagues from over 30 academic, industrial and clinical disciplines to improve device design took place. This has involved a range of applications involving respiratory masks, support surfaces, prosthetic sockets for amputees and penile clamps for incontinent men.

Working in close collaboration with the industrial partners has ensured that the network’s research is, and will continue to be, translated into safe and effective devices. MDVSN Plus has also engaged with clinicians, including organising a regular session at the Annual UK Tissue Viability conference to highlight issues including reporting of medical device-related tissue damage.

The network’s research findings have been used by industrial partners to evaluate develop new medical devices which safely interface with patent’s skin and our work has influenced the guidelines produced by the European, US and Pan-Pacific Panels (EPUAP/NPUAP/PPPIA). The document includes explicit recommendations and guidelines for pressure ulcer prevention and treatment that are used all over the world.

The network are delighted to confirm that some of the innovative research will be continued in the recent award from a 2020 EU Innovative Training Networks (ITN) Call. This will involve working with international academic and industrial partners who have already been established within MDVSN^PLUS

You can download the report here..