Sustainability in single use medical sensors/devices

Sustainability has become one of essential part of a product life cycle and biomedical industry is not an exception rather it is one of major industry using wide ranges of single use medical products. Addressing sustainability of these products is important especially due to their biohazard nature and sanitation issues. This presentation will cover ongoing effort to address cost and sustainability issues of single use devices through use of Flexible Hybrid Electronics (FHE) manufacturing, evaluation of novel materials usage, introduction of environmentally conscious design practices, and life cycle assessment methodologies. Examples of two additively manufactured demonstrators: single-use vital sign monitor system (SUVSM) and single-use ECG leads (SUEL) will be discussed showing feasibility and benefits of FHE manufacturing approach.