Project ranked for Top 6 internationally for the BioDesign Challenge
Designing a bioluminescent mattress topper aiding pressure sores
Illuminate Pressure
Illuminate Pressure - Glowingly Obvious
Timeline — 12 weeks (2020)
Role — User researcher, Qualitative analysis, Ideation
Methods — Surveys, Interviews, Affinity Mapping, Card Sorting, Personas
Tools — Miro, Google Surveys
Team — Isaiah Joshua Balot, Kaitlyn Briden, Savvena Christoforou, Mehak Dhiman, Amalie Judd, Madison Nguyen, Chi Chi Pau, Bridget Scott & Andrew Xing
What is it?
A mattress topper consisting of bioluminescent bacteria in a nutrient fluid housed in a series of semi-permeable walled cells and a photo-sensing layer. These cells react to pressure and glow to show where the most pressure is from the patient. This aids carers and nurses in their work to prevent the occurrence of pressure sores before they are visible.
Why are we designing this?
Our mission is to illuminate the serious implications of pressure related injuries, specifically pressure sores, and create a compassionate, user-based solution. This solution considers time constraints of health care professionals and strives to aid and confirm regularity of intervention as well as a lack of patient comfort.
The Process
We adopted the design thinking methodology, which involves empathising, defining, ideating, prototyping, and testing, to execute this project. This methodology assisted us in navigating the process of crafting a compelling and thoroughly explored product, from initial research through iterations to the final implementation.
1/ Empathise
We aimed to delve into the heart of the issue to devise a thoroughly considered solution. To achieve this, we carried out surveys and interviews, seeking insights from nurses, doctors, and patients' family members regarding their encounters with bedsores.
1 Survey
168 Questions Answered
21 Responses from Healthcare Professionals
9 Interviews
8 Hospital Workers
2 Family Members of Affected Patients
2/ Define
From our user-research, 3 key themes were extracted that had the largest impact on how our problem was defined:
Current prevention strategies include physical movement and visual assessment
When interviewing nurses we found that the most current and common strategy for prevention was visual assessment, stating that they “will be looking for redness because that's the first sign of a pressure sore”.
Pressure sores rarely increase in severity but it does happen
It was discovered that once a pressure sore is discovered by a nurse, very rarely does it get worse, with one nurse saying “It’s very rare for us to get pressure injuries that go from grade two to grade three they usually go from grade two to grade one.
Variance in nurse ability can frustrate co-workers and lessen the quality of care
This aspect became a key finding, integral to our design, as many nurses stated that a lack of sufficient communication resulted in a decrease in quality. From the user data gathered, one nurse stated that there were sores that were “not actually new because nobody's documented it."
Problem Statement
“Pressure ulcers are difficult for nurses and doctors to identify, prevent, and manage due to the fast paced nature of their profession and environment.”
3/ Ideate
With our group comprising 10 members, we organised a brainwriting session. Each member quickly noted down an innovative and creative concept related to our problem statement. We allocated 2 minutes for each round of rotation, allowing members to build upon the previous concept. This process led to nine rounds of deeply iterated ideas, culminating in our final fleshed-out design of a bio-luminescent pressure sensor-based sheet.
4/ Prototype
From our user-research, the themes that had the largest impact on how the problem was defined were:Through conducting a competitor analysis, our team was able to effectively identify both the strengths and weaknesses of our product. This valuable insight led us to brainstorm and prioritise areas that required further attention in order to foster growth.
Visibility of system status - keep users informed about what is going on, through appropriate feedback within reasonable time. (Nielsen, 1994)
Match between system and real world - speak the users' language, with words, phrases and concepts familiar to the user, rather than system-oriented terms. Follow real-world conventions, making information appear in a natural and logical order. (Nielsen, 1994)
Aesthetic and minimalist design - dialogues should not contain information which is irrelevant or rarely needed. Every extra unit of information in a dialogue competes with the relevant units of information and diminishes their relative visibility. (Nielsen, 1994).
The interface includes a simplistic design featuring a colour scale to represent affected areas.
Personas were then formed to gain a better understanding on our targeted audience as well as their age group, pain points, users' needs, experiences, behaviours and goals. Storyboards were also created to visualise the process of how our product would work.
Personas
User Journey Mapping
Storyboarding
We created a user journey map to consider what impact our design had on the user experience.
We had considered that the most frustrating point for all stakeholders was within the stage of prevention - with the key pain points being regular visual assessment and movement of patient. There is no change within the treatment stage of the journey, as although treatment can be difficult, we found that once a sore had been identified - it rarely worsened - making it a generally less stressful aspect of the experience.
How Does It Work?
The semipermeable membrane acts as a nano-filter allowing water through, but not the bacteria. When pressure is applied to the cells, water flows out, condensing the population of bacteria and producing a visible ‘glow’. This can also be measured by a photo-sensitive layer. In the future we hope to integrate this with artificial intelligence, using data to more accurately predict when and where pressure sores may form.
5/ Test
Due to the wide scale impacts of COVID-19 in this period, the fabrication and testing of our product could not be conducted. However, should the development of our product advance, the following factors should be carefully considered moving forward.Creating mockups based off user research, interviews I have conducted, secondary research and competitor analysis' to create an ideal wireframe state of the product page. This included written briefs for handover to XD and product team to gain a better understanding of the project scope.
Comfort
Comfort remains one of our primary concerns in our mission to improve the patient experience. Our product should not compromise comfort in any way in its function to detect pressure sores, and should be viewed as a more preferable product in these terms.
Materials
The materials used to construct our product have not been entirely decided, however we should strive for more eco-friendly, cheaper options, to avoid creating more waste for hospitals as well as being accessible to as many people as possible. These materials should also be acceptable within the health and safety regulations in hospitals, as well as acquired through ethical means.
Stigma
It is possible and perhaps highly likely that patients may be adverse to the idea of sleeping on top of a layer of live, functioning bacteria, creating mental discomfort and distress. Much care should be taken in the product’s advertising and appearance to avoid this.
Check out our Final Design here!
Due to the wide scale impacts of COVID-19 in this period, the fabrication and testing of our product could not be conducted. However, should the development of our product advance, the following factors should be carefully considered moving forward.Creating mockups based off user research, interviews I have conducted, secondary research and competitor analysis' to create an ideal wireframe state of the product page. This included written briefs for handover to XD and product team to gain a better understanding of the project scope.
What I've Learnt From This Project
• Collaborating with interfaculties and building upon interesting insights from science and architecture students
• Design is multifaceted, and with multiple perspectives can create rich products and design
• Confidence in converting feedback into productive change
• Gaining valuable online collaborative skills while working completely remotely on the project
• Adding my own area of expertise in an interdisciplinary team taught me collaboration and team building skills