Francis Pooke, a Mechanical Engineering student at the University of Canterbury, navigated medical device design challenges with exceptional ease developing an elegant solution and potentially life-saving device.

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From car crashes to the battlefield, securing a viable airway after a major injury is critical to patient survival. Tracheostomies are the best choice for bypassing severely compromised airways to insert a breathing tube. But they’re rarely performed – because of the procedure's high complication rate.

Reinventing tracheostomies to significantly decrease complexity and risk could transform apprehensive doctors and paramedics into experts with minimal training. 

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Francis Pooke has achieved this through innovative design, significant iteration, clinical consultation, and extensive testing, successfully delivering a highly simplified tracheostomy device and procedure. 

In a direct comparison with a standard clinical kit, the time to perform a tracheostomy was reduced by over 50%, enabled by a reduction in parts from 12 to 7 and an avoidance of successive insertion and removal of standard kit components. 

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The scope of impact for this design is huge. A simpler, intuitive design will transform responders into confident and prepared experts, able to perform life-saving care without hesitation.