Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
In 1971, the problem was that the nurses had to place a thin adhesive disc on the patient
This required a good system for unpacking the electrode
Furthermore the electrodes could only stick once
If you wanted to move an electrode, you had to connect everything again
The departments worked around the clock and often experienced false signals
This was stressfull to the nurses, and ECG measuring was doubted as a viable method
Yet another problem was the amount of paste in an electrode
When a nurse is in a stressfull situation and has to dose paste into an electrode by hand
Then it is difficult to administer just one or two drops of paste
Especially when the paste differed in brand and viscosity
How much would you have to squeeze the dispenser to get the right amount?
The result was that the paste would spill out onto the adhesive material
A lot of the complaints at the time were that the electrodes fell off because of too much paste
We knew we had to teach the nurses to dose the electrodes. Or - even better - to develop pre-dosed electrodes
But the pre-dosed solution took some years to work out
We had a notion that it would be disposable electrodes at some point. But the market did not exist
Maybe 30 or 40 stations in Denmark used electrodes. So the absolute maximum was 40,000 electrodes a year
So it was not something you could make a living out of
But we could solve some problems. And we believed in the future
I had a test setup on my dining room table for experimenting on materials
In the start-up phase I did this every day. I could quicly connect my oscilloscopes
I had big machines including an ECG recorder
I could keep track of what happened when I had been for a run with electrodes on me
When I had used a different kind of paste
What happened over time, and for how long could the adhesive stick
I needed the equipment to be readily available, and I printed the results as documentation of each change to the ECG
This process was absolutely necessary. And it took at least nine months
Then I had to move my setup because we needed the table. My family could not keep on eating in the kitchen
That is how it started. And relatively soon we knew that the electrode would have to be single-use containing both adhesive and paste
But we did not have the funds to go ahead. It was not untill '73 or '74 that we knew it was possible
We set ourselves a goal: When we have developed an electrode and sold 100,000 pieces
Then we know that our invention is viable
And we reached this goal in 1977-78
It has been a long development process which in principle goes on indefinitely
I have had my heart and my carreer bound to this since I was 31 years old
I have had such a great time. I would gladly do it all over again
It has been really fun to work on the troubleshooting