Sensing and 3D printing technologies in personalized healthcare for the management of health crises including the COVID-19 outbreak

• Published in: Sensors international Vol. 3; p. 100180
• Main Authors: Kalkal, Ashish, Allawadhi, Prince, Kumar, Pramod, Sehgal, Abhishek, Verma, Ashmit, Pawar, Kaustubh, Pradhan, Rangadhar, Paital, Biswaranjan, Packirisamy, Gopinath
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 2022; The Authors. Publishing services by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of KeAi Communications Co. Ltd; KeAi Communications Co., Ltd
• Subjects: 3D printing; COVID-19; Personalized protective equipment; Point-of-care-testing (POCTs); Sensing; COVID-19; Sensing; Personalized protective equipment; Point-of-care-testing (POCTs); 3D printing
• ISSN: 2666-3511; 2666-3511
• DOI: 10.1016/j.sintl.2022.100180

A major threat that has surrounded human civilization since the beginning of the year 2020 is the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). It has been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization and significantly affected populations globally, causing medical and economic despair. Healthcare chains across the globe have been under grave stress owing to shortages of medical equipments necessary to address a pandemic. Furthermore, personal protective equipment supplies, mandatory for healthcare staff for treating severely ill patients, have been in short supply. To address the necessary requisites during the pandemic, several researchers, hospitals, and industries collaborated to meet the demand for these medical equipments in an economically viable manner. In this context, 3D printing technologies have provided enormous potential in creating personalized healthcare equipment, including face masks, face shields, rapid detection kits, testing swabs, biosensors, and various ventilator components. This has been made possible by capitalizing on centralized large-scale manufacturing using 3D printing and local distribution of verified and tested computer-aided design files. The primary focus of this study is, “How 3D printing is helpful in developing these equipments, and how it can be helpful in the development and deployment of various sensing and point-of-care-testing (POCTs) devices for the commercialization?” Further, the present study also takes care of patient safety by implementing novel 3D printed health equipment used for COVID-19 patients. Moreover, the study helps identify and highlight the efforts made by various organizations toward the usage of 3D printing technologies, which are helpful in combating the ongoing pandemic. [Display omitted] •Needless panic buying of medical materials is observed during the COVID-19 outbreak.•So, waste of money and shortage of medical requirements was severe for front line workers.•Plethora of designs for reusable medical devices and medicines was the need.•Exact need based sensing and producing the required clinical materials is highly desired.•Various 3D sensing and printing system seems to decrease the supply demand ration under crisis.