Four teams participated in the national level Innovative and Creative Circle (ICC) convention in early October at Bukit Gambang Resort City, Kuantan, achieved a resounding success that made Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) proud.

USM Health Campus sent four teams comprising EVO REHAB, LATERAL, and GO BEYOND, all from Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia, and PROTECH from the School of Medical Sciences.

“All the four teams have won the Three Gold Star award with the LATERAL team emerging among the top 10 teams that will represent Malaysia at the International ICC Convention of 2014," said USM Health Campus Quality Coordinator Dr. Mary Abraham.

She added that the event was organised by the Malaysia Productivity Corporation and is the most effective way to encourage industry to improve competitiveness, this includes universities.

A total of 68 teams, including 23 from among the Public Institutions of Higher Learning (IPTA), participated in the ICC convention in the public sector as well as 50 teams in the manufacturing sector, 30 teams in the service sector, and 23 in the Electrical and Electronics sector.

Meanwhile, the GAMBAROU Team from the Health Campus, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), successfully achieved 3 Gold Stars at the convention under the category of Activities of Quality Environmental Practices (QE/5S).

The team also made its own history as being the pioneer group sent by USM and for the first time took part in this kind of contest in the National Quality Environment (QE/5S) 2013 organised by the Malaysia Productivity Corporation (MPC).

The group facilitator was Puan Rogayah Ali, led by Jamil Abdul Wahab who focused on utility bills savings and space conservation.

A total of 55 QE/5S teams from all over Malaysia joined the convention.

The LATERAL team of USM Hospital with Hajah Saniah Saad as its facilitator and led by Hajah Norizan Jusoh submitted a project titled “Head Bun” with innovation initiatives in devising a more practical tool basing on to the size of an elderly patient who would be undergoing an endotracheal intubation procedure which is the most important procedure in anesthesised patients in the Operation Theatre.

Endotracheal intubation procedure should be done at a proper rate to avoid any complications from a lack of oxygen reaching the brain which might be dangerous.

This procedure is in dire need of a support tool that helps to speed up the process of inserting a tube to help the patient to breathe.

The signs of complications and the reliability of the product should also be taken into account.

The USM Hospital was said to spend RM13,718 annually for the cost needed for head ring before the project. Now, USM Hospital managed to reduce the cost to RM378 annually. For all the hospitals in Malaysia, it is estimated that there would be savings of RM373,520,000 annually.

These new products are very economical with an estimated savings increase of 97.2 % after the project.

As for the project by the GO BEYOND team from USM Hospital with Hasnetty Zuria Mohamed Hatta as the facilitator and headed by Nurul Wahida Zulkifli, they were able to save the cost of purchasing the back injury rehabilitation device as compared to purchasing imported device.

The cost of purchasing the imported back pain recovery equipment is at RM732.55 while the manufacturing and material cost of x-bac unit is RM130. The purchase of back injury rehabilitation device imported by the Hospital for 1,504 patients was RM1,101,755.20 per year while the purchase of x-bac produced through innovation is only RM195,520.00, a savings of RM906,235 a year.

The project titled “Use of Existing Devices to Reduce Back Pain is Not Suitable” involved the innovation that was related to existing devices that are not appropriate to reduce the pain suffered.

The problem occurs when a patient uses existing treatment devices (pillow) in the unit while doing relaxation treatment and also while sleeping at home (incorrect position).

Those involved in the treatment include patients with back pain, medical officers, medical therapists, medical technicians and caregivers.

Existing devices have many disadvantages such as high cost, delayed supply, not appropriate sizes and also because they do not appeal to users or patients.

It was found that 423 patients recovered within 3 months in 2013 after the use of x-bac introduced in lieu of the existing treatment devices.

Another innovation, Exercise Equipment for Strengthening Lower Limbs Is Currently Burdensome, EVO REHAB of USM Hospital managed to save about RM20,221 for each unit of equipment thereby reducing project cost by 97.55 %, saving supply time by 50 % and is able to solve the problems raised in addition to bringing changes in the treatment of patients with weak lower limbs such as in cases of fractures, stroke, sports injuries and arthritis.

Meanwhile the group with Mohd Zamani Mamat as the facilitator, led by Azlina Majid, found that the use of exercise is cumbersome for arthritic patients’ rehabilitation, sports injuries, stroke and broken case. Existing equipment is burdensome because of high costs, the size is too big and this causes discomfort and is difficult to operate by the user and patient.

The group finally managed to produce a new equipment that can be easily operated, user-friendly, inexpensive exercise tool that is also lightweight and portable, locally made and can be supplied faster.

Another innovation was produced by PRO TECH Group of the School of Medical Sciences whose facilitators were led by Azhar Ahmad and headed by Mohammed Faris Irfan.

This group is working to develop Search System for Parking Space on Health Campus, Universiti Sains Malaysia.

Solving parking problems in a comprehensive manner may require a relatively long period of time to complete as it involves high cost, such as the cost of creating multilevel parking. However, a number of alternative ways have to be thought of to reduce this problem.

This group has found a simple method without incurring high costs to assist management to reduce the problem of finding parking. The project was implemented on 10 April 2012. The main focus of this project is to reduce the difficulty of finding parking problems by utilising the latest technology to produce a quality parking search system that is more efficient and cost effective.

In particular, this project focused on simplifying and accelerating the process of finding parking without involving changes to the rules and the existing laws and without causing the rising cost of services.

It is hoped that with the implementation of this project as a whole, will reduce the problems and grievances of staff pertaining to the difficulty of finding a parking space for their vehicles during weekdays.

The system introduced by the project could also foster mutual help among staff and facilitate the work process in the Campus Security Department related to the management of vehicle parking. In addition, the quality of service can be enhanced, not only in terms of saving on time but also in terms of cost savings on vehicle fuel, reducing carbon dioxide emissions, reduce stress while searching for parking lot and also vehicle safety.

According to Dr. Mary Abraham, ICC activity has now been institutionalised as part of best practices in Malaysia and internationally recognised with a focus on solving problems and improving the existing systems in the workplace focused on customer satisfaction.

Malaysia Productivity Corporation (MPC) is a body responsible for coordinating the ICC in the Public and Private Sectors in Malaysia. MPC hosted ICC conventions in several stages such as MPC Mini Convention, MPC Federal Convention, and MPC National Convention. - Translation: Yong Check Yoon