Enabling Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) Community Collaboration via Systems Engineering Methodologies

An Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) system is a collection of devices working together in a circuit to pump and oxygenate a patient's blood. ECMO systems are used for patients whose lungs and/or heart cannot function properly on their own and need time to heal. Even though ECMO therapy has been used for decades it is still extremely dangerous and is therefore only used for patients who have a low probability of survival if not placed on ECMO therapy. One potential reason that the ECMO systems are so dangerous is that there is no standard circuit design. Designs can vary between hospitals and may vary within the hospitals.This paper will explore the systems engineering (SE) work by the Georgia Institute of Technology 2013 Professional Master's in Systems Engineering (PMASE) cohort involving the system design of the ECMO Data Collaboration Tool (EDCT). The EDCT will allow the ECMO community to document their circuits in support of data driven best-of-breed analyses. The eventual web-based application will provide a way for specialists and physicians to gather real-world data for improved decision- making in the context of future ECMO circuit implementations. Key features of the tool include integration with the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization (ELSO) registry, simple user interface, vetted circuit elements, provisional device capability, integrated circuit error checking, and low/no cost to implement at ECMO centers around the world. This paper focuses on two key aspects of the recent design effort and engineering process: the utility of using an incrementally developed functional prototype to reduce risk and accelerate design evolution and a method of representing ECMO circuit architectures in a database environment.