Palpation is used in medical diagnostics to determine the conditions of underlying parts or organs using pressure of the hands and fingers on the body’s surface. There are no existing devices that teach abdominal palpation of small animals. This project aimed to design and create a haptic teaching device for use by veterinary students to learn canine abdominal palpation skills. The device simulates the tactile sense of a canine abdomen including palpable organs and abnormalities to teach students diagnostic skills. The team developed ten palpation devices with a soft tissue component, hard tissue component, three palpable objects, and two abnormalities in each device. Validation from the client, veterinary professionals, and mechanical testing confirmed the device met the objectives.

• This report represents the work of one or more WPI undergraduate students submitted to the faculty as evidence of completion of a degree requirement. WPI routinely publishes these reports on its website without editorial or peer review.

Creator

• Pellegrini, Elizabeth Marie
• Harris, Anne Frances
• Price, Alexandra Susanne
• Murphy, Sean David

Publisher

• Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Identifier

• E-project-042816-091139

Advisor

• Reidinger, Zoe

Year

• 2016

Sponsor

• Tufts University: Cummings School of Veterinary Me
• Stone, Michael

Date created

• 2016-04-28

Resource type

• Major Qualifying Project

Major

• Biomedical Engineering

Rights statement

• In Copyright

Last modified

• 2021-02-02