Designing a safe solution to transport intensive care patients

Designing a safe solution to transport intensive care patients

Toorneman, A.C.

Vink, P. (mentor)
Sonneveld, M.H. (mentor)

Industrial Design Engineering

Industrial Design

Master of Science Design for Interaction

2016-03-29

Introduction into the subject: ?Over the last years, more Dutch citizens have been travelling around the world and unfortunately this leads to more Dutch patients in hospitals in far away countries. This results in more requests by Dutch patients to be repatriated (transported back home) by airplane. Some of these patients are intensive care (IC) patients, who are very fragile and require extra medical devices, such as a breathing system. Repatriating IC patients by airplane can be divided into three main steps: 1. The patient is transported from a foreign hospital to the medical cabin inside the airplane. ? 2. The patient is then transported by air. ?3. Finally, the patient is transported from the medical cabin to a hospital in the Netherlands. Because existing medical transport services are expensive and required a lot of time, a new safe and fast service was designed, the Guardian journey. The design was established by five master students during a Joint Master Project in 2014. ?Currently, the Guardian journey mainly covers the second and third steps of repatriation. ?The second step is covered by a modular medical cabin and is named the Guardian concept. The Guardian concept can be installed in a commercial airplane and is equipped with all the necessary medical devices to treat IC patients. The third step is covered by the existing Mobile Intensive Care Unit (MICU) service. MICU safely transports IC patients on the road to the hospital. ?? The first step of repatriation is not yet included in the Guardian journey. Research shows that this part is the most critical part of the entire repatriation. This graduation project offers a solution to this problem with a safe transport situation for the first step. The solution also supports a safe transport of the IC patient from the medical cabin to the MICU in the third step. Problems in the first step ?In the first step the main problems occur when the patient is moved between the bed or stretcher and when the patient is brought to the transport vehicle. Problem 1 ?Lines connecting the patient to medical devices get loose or twisted. Problem 2 ?Medical devices flip or fall off the stretcher or bed. Both problems could lead to the patient becoming disconnected from the medical devices. If this happens, the patient is not provided with medication or can no longer be monitored by the medical team. This could lead to life-threatening situations. Problem 3 ?Because the first step has not been considered yet, no attention has been given to how the medical team should operate and cooperate. Moreover, working with medical experts from a foreign country presents new issues due to culture differences. Research: ?The first step to designing a safe transport situation was conducting research in the intensive care field. The outcomes of this research are summarized in the following four crucial aspects, which are used as base for creating the final design. Including these four aspects also provides a solution to the problems defined in the first step.?? 1. Having the patient be connected to the medical devices at all times. ?2. Monitoring the patient at all times. 3. Coordinated working procedure 4. Clear communication Final design: ?The final design consists of two parts, a mat-system and two accompanying guidelines. Mat-system: ?The IC patient, medical devices and the lines are installed on the mat-system, according to one configuration. This way the patient and medical devices are safely transferred between bed or stretcher as one package in one go. With strips the medical devices and line are fixed on the mat-system. As a result, the medical devices and lines are in a stable position, ensuring the vital connection between patient and medical devices. In addition, the monitors are visible for the medical experts at all times. ??Besides using the mat-system to transport the IC patient from a foreign hospital to the medical cabin (step 1), it can also be used to safely transport the IC patient from the medical cabin to the MICU outside the airplane in step 3. Accompanying guidelines: ?The accompanying guidelines support a coordinated working procedure and clear communication for using the mat-system in the first step. The first guideline tells the medical team step by step how the IC patient and the medical devices need to be installed on the mat-system. ?The second guideline describes the installation steps of the IC patient on mat-system in the medical cabin in airplane. Color-system: ?The final design consists of a color-system. Hereby each medical devices is allocated to one color. On the mat-system, the color-system is used to indicate with which strip the medical devices and lines must be fixed. The same color system is applied in the two guidelines to support the medical team with a correct and fast installation. The color system is also applied in the interior of the Guardian concept to indicate the positions of the medical devices on the wall and medical unit. ?Evaluation of the final design and the next step: ?A prototype is made of the mat-system and is together with the guidelines tested in a User Study. After testing and evaluating, it is concluded that the final design can offer a solution to the problems identified in the first step and can create a safe transport situation in the first (and partly third) step. Including a safe transport in the first step will bring realization of a complete Guardian journey closer. To make the final design reality the following main actions are recommended. First, the prototype must be improved according to the defined recommendations. Next, the improved prototype must be tested with more medical experts and (real) patients. Hereby it is important to test how the installed patient and medical devices on the mat-system are transferred between beds. Second, it is recommended to investigate the usability of the final design in the third step. At last, a business plan needs to be written. Hereby it is essential to analyze the commercial feasibility of the final design.

transport
design
healthcare
patient
Guardian

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:5d7073ba-e702-49cb-b74d-310bc57e977e

Campus only

Student theses

master thesis

(c) 2016 Toorneman, A.C.