A Patent for Your Thoughts
Monday April 3, 2000
Print This- Select Text Size:
Comments
Nurse and inventor Joanie O'Donnell had a bright idea - fiberoptic light bars that illuminate IV drip chambers.
advertisement
If you think about it, all these things had to be invented. Why? To make someone's life easier on a day-to-day basis and to make their time more efficient. How do I know? Well, that's just what I did. Some people call me an inventor, some people call me a nurse entrepreneur; however, I still consider myself a registered nurse who had a need in her daily clinical setting and found a solution for it.
I created the IV Illuminator. It is simply that. It is a fiberoptic light bar attached to an IV pole that has four parallel hooks that "illuminate" IV drip chambers in a low-light setting (i.e., a radiology suite). I worked three years in an interventional neuroradiology suite and one of my many responsibilities in the procedure room was monitoring the multiple IV drips attached to microcatheters used to treat brain aneurysms and AVMs (arteriovenous malformations). If at anytime the drips would stop their flow or infuse too fast, the patient was at a risk to develop a clot at the catheter site or pulmonary edema.
So you could imagine, after a four- to six-hour procedure, my eyes were bugging out of my head. I kept thinking to myself for months that there had to be an easier way. With all the state-of-the-art equipment these days and the millions of dollars that it takes to run an angio suite, I could not imagine not being able to have a product that would illuminate the multiple drips so that everyone in the suite could monitor the drips.
I pencil-sketched my idea and showed it to a friend who was a design engineer. At first he thought I was crazy, but with much coaxing, we developed a prototype of the IV Illuminator for the procedure room.
So how did I become an inventor? Well, a highly skilled and respected physician saw my idea and asked me if I had ever considered having it patented. This was the beginning of my journey into the business world.
I consulted a patent attorney, who told me the pros and cons of applying for a patent. The pros outweighed the cons, so I figured, what the heck, go for it! It is not as expensive as the rumors that I had heard - $10,000 to $20,000. But I did learn that when you call the attorney, make it quick and to the point, because as soon as he or she picks up the phone, the clock is ticking and the price is rising.
After applying for a patent, it seems like forever before you hear from the patent office. It took 20 months and approximately $6,000 to fulfill my patent dream. I am now a managing partner of EMBO-OPTICS, a company my business partner and I developed. I have been contacted by many well-known medical companies that are interested in my plans for the future of my patent.
I won't mislead you, it's been a long road traveled, full of peaks and valleys, and at times you say to yourself, why did I even get myself into this? It takes a lot of hard work, determination, as well as financial and emotional support. My inspiration is knowing I have my husband, family, and coworkers rooting for me all the way to the finish line. My goal is to inspire you, my fellow nurses, to take creative ideas you have for your clinical setting and make them come alive.
Honestly, it's a wonderful feeling knowing that you took an idea that you knew in your heart would make life more efficient and safer for someone, and made it into a reality. C'mon, put those thinking caps on!
Reader Comments
Login