Medical Device Design

In this video, we explore how the design of a medical device can help to reduce all kinds of risk to both patients and staff. Here we meet Tobias and Munford who both work with Dräger, specifically in the design and risk management of emergency care ventilators.

The main steps to manage risk are to define the intended use, purpose of use and the users.

• As an example, have you ever thought about the labels on your ventilator? Every manufacturer has different labels for the same function, such as “TIP:TINSP” compared to “I:E ratio”. This can be quite confusing and leads to additional workload.

Good product design avoids confusion and makes the interface easy to use

• There are international standards to limit the potential for incorrect use of vocabulary and how to adapt them to the context of use: ISO 19223
• Have a look at the ventilator used in your service. Is the inspiratory pressure set as pressure amplitude above PEEP or as total pressure including the PEEP? Is the labelling clear to you and all other users? The manufacturers consider this when designing a device. There are plenty of differing names for the same ventilation mode depending on the manufacturer, and sometimes different modes are hidden behind the same names.

Good design can help to interrupt the chain of infection – a key part of any patient transfer

• The design of modern ventilators or monitors can improve patient outcome by minimising infections. Rounded shapes and smooth materials makes the cleaning much easier and single use disposables reduce the risk of infection.
• We have interviewed one of the world leading manufacturers of transfer ventilators to understand this development.
• If you would like to learn about the incorporation of infection control and prevention into medical device design you can watch this further video

References