Ibadan – A Nigerian US-based medical expert, Dr Samson Arigbamu, has invented a stethoscope equipped with components capable of immediately identify adventitious lung such as COVID-19-infected lungs that will immediately announce its findings.
Arigbamu disclosed on Sunday in a mail to journalists in Ibadan, the Oyo state capital, that the stethoscope is in production at prototype and optimization stage, which the final product would commence by December, noting that however, the process could be expedited with resources from individuals, organizations or even the Nigerian government.
Dr Arigbamu have been living in the USA for about 22 years and currently the Director of Nursing at Future Care Lochearn, a 200-bed capacity health rehabilitation center in Baltimore Maryland.
He has been on employment of the company for 10 years, prior to that, he was a director of nursing at Manor Care Woodbridge in Baltimore Maryland for over three years.
Also, currently own and operate a private clinic called Upsurge Health Associate in Freeland, Maryland.
Dr Arigbamu maintained that the eventual production of the stethoscope would be a great achievement of pride to Nigeria government for a simple fact that a citizen of the country invented such critical medical equipment worthy of a USA patent, hence, soliciting support from Nigeria government.
Arigbamu explained that having worked in the healthcare field for over 20 years, he had seen healthcare providers including nurses, mid level providers and physicians struggle with identifying lung and heart sounds.
As a result, chest x-rays, EKGs and other cardiac interrogative tests are often ordered to identify adventitious lung and heart conditions.
He noted that clinical issue with these expensive tests and devices is that, they are incapable of identify adventitious sounds and providing immediate and accurate feedback, consequently, utilization of such devices often result in significant clinical and health issues for the patients as well as a waste of valuable resource.
He said, “As a result of these challenges, in 2018 I started working on inventing a digital stethoscope that could identify lung and heart sounds, interpret the sounds and immediately announce its findings to the users. The stethoscope is also capable of integrating its data into electronic medical record.
“With such capabilities, it will enhance physical assessment vital to health care providers and novice users. It will also ensure opportunities for timely intervention and prevention of further health decline in patients.
“The stethoscope is also equipped with electronic medical record (EMR) integration capabilities (essential to telemedicine) in order improve care coordination and patient information portability.
“The project received a USA patent on June 2nd 2020 and is currently in prototype phase of production in the USA and Ukraine.
“The eventual production of the stethoscope would be a great achievement of pride to Nigeria for a simple fact that a citizen of the country invented such critical medical equipment worthy of a USA patent.”
