The unpleasant task of emptying and cleaning colostomy bags was part of bioengineering freshman James Huynh’s part-time job as a state tested nurse aide (STNA), providing personal care for nursing home residents.
Up until then, Huynh had never heard of a colostomy bag, let alone emptied one. After volunteering to help empty one, he quickly realized there was room for improvement.
The Sanibag team members are, from left, Luke Sheehan, Kylie Spade (team captain), James Huynh, Meg Taylor and Zein Hassan.
During Huynh’s freshman design class, he proposed the idea of a modified colostomy bag that allows for easier cleaning and maintenance.
“I didn’t really have the credentials or support to create a better device when I began,” Huynh said. “But some six months later, when I found my other team members, they provided a foundation for the idea to grow and it took off from there.”
The team invented the Sanibag.
Designed to make nurses’ jobs less taxing and to preserve the dignity of individuals who clean their own colostomy bags by saving time and allowing for more sanitary cleaning methods, the Sanibag was created and developed as the team’s freshman design project in the Bioengineering Department’s BIOE 1410-1420 Freshman Design and Innovation I and II classes, taught by Dr. Eda Yildirim-Ayan, an associate professor and undergraduate program director in the Department of Bioengineering.
Yildirim-Ayan then encouraged the team to submit their project to the Design by Biomedical Undergraduate Teams (DEBUT) Challenge. Created by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) and VentureWell, the DEBUT Challenge is a way to encourage undergraduate student teams to develop technology solutions to unmet needs in any area of healthcare.
The freshmen Sanibag team, competing against 100 other teams from more than 50 universities nationwide, was among five teams awarded an Honorable Mention, a prize that included national recognition for their innovation, $1,000 to be divided among the group members and an invitation for the team to attend the Biomedical Engineering Society Conference.
“This invention will improve the lives of patients and nurses alike by making the process of emptying a colostomy bag much faster, and much less prone to messes,” Huynh said. “By decreasing the time spent emptying a bag, nurses will be able to attend to more vital tasks relating to the resident, and the dignity of the resident will be much better preserved with less messes. It’s a small change to a small part of healthcare, but I am confident it will improve the quality of life for everyone involved.”
Yildirim-Ayan added: “As the Bioengineering Department, we are exceptionally proud of the Sanibag team for their innovative achievement. Their dedication to improving the lives of both patients and healthcare professionals is truly commendable. The Sanibag is not only a great technological advancement but also a testament to the innovative spirit of our bioengineering students and underscores the importance of addressing unmet needs in healthcare.”
