Form 3 student presents poster at US conference
KUCHING: Joseph Chung, a Form 3 student at Tunku Putra School ( TPS), was invited to do a poster presentation for his Smart E- Cushion at the National Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel ( NPUAP) Biennial Conference held in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA from March 10 to 11.
According to a press release, Chung felt motivated to find a solution for pressure injury prevention and treatment as he was moved by what happened to ` Superman’ actor Christopher Reeve. Driven by the desire to prevent both occurrence and complications associated with pressure injury, he developed a `Smart E- Cushion’.
Once inf lated and placed as a support surface, the device deflates and inflates using a pressure sensor as the patient shifts to reposition. Equipped with an alarm to alert the caregiver when the patient has been in the same position for a prolonged period of time and based on the individual needs of the patient, the Smart E- Cushion can be programmed to inflate and deflate at certain intervals.
The device also has Bluetooth technology to send information to a smartphone, tablet or computer.
The Smart E- Cushion was put together using recycled parts and with the support of Arduino – an open source computer hardware and software company, project and user community that designs and manufactures microcontroller kits for building digital devices and interactive objects that can sense and control objects in the physical world.
Commenting on his first experience attending such a professional and scientific event, Chung said it was an eye- opening experience, and he was honoured to have his innovation and ideas commended by many of the attendees.
The NPUAP conference has been inviting participants to implement the revised staging system and research- based strategies to optimise healing. Through educational offerings, it is dedicated to providing the most current information about pressure injury education, research and public policy. It stimulates new questions, creates ideas for research and provides ` real world’ ideas for clinical application.
In recognition of Chung’s achievement, he was awarded an ` Honourable Mention’ for the poster presentation during the conference and an invitation to attend the next NPUAP conference in 2019.
Apart from the recent invitation by NPUAP to do a poster presentation, Chung has also made Sarawak proud in other scientific presentations and competitions.
Chung and his TK2 team mates were announced as second runners-up in the Grand Finale of the Young Innovate 2016 statelevel competition organised by Swinburne University for the Smart E- Cushion.
The same team was also the first runner- up in the grand final of the national-level Young Innovate Malaysia competition held at the Malaysia International Exhibition and Convention Centre, Kuala Lumpur in November last year.
At the Kuala Lumpur Engineering Sciences Fair 2016 challenge that followed, Chung impressed the five judges with his individual presentation about the Smart E- Cushion for which he won a gold medal certificate.
“Joseph is passionate about everything he does, a model student and an inspiration to his peers. Creative, innovative and meticulous in his research and investigations, I am confident that we will soon be reading about further ground- breaking developments led by him,” said Susan Holmes, the principal of TPS.
“All members of the Tunku Putra School Community wish Joseph well as he continues with his scientific research and enquiry and prepares for future events in 2017,” she added.