Contributing to health system resilience during pandemics via purchasing and supply strategies: an exploratory system dynamics approach

Background: Health systems worldwide struggled to obtain sufficient personal protective equipment (PPE) and ventilators during the COVID-19 pandemic due to global supply chain disruptions. Our study’s aim was to create a proof-of-concept model that would simulate the effects of supply strategies under various scenarios, to ultimately help...

Reducing the environmental impact of gloves used in the Intensive Care Unit: Towards greener ICUs

Background<br/>The healthcare sector is one of the most polluting sectors in the Netherlands. To limit the environmental impact of the medical sector, Erasmus MC collaborated with Metabolic to conduct a Material Flow Analysis (MFA) and Impact Assessment for the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). The research revealed the hotspots of the ICU,...

Head and facial dimensions of Chilean workers for design purposes and the differences with other populations

BACKGROUND: An appropriate match between a product and its end-users requires anthropometric data, which show variations among different countries. Proper Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) fit is key for safety and comfort. Chile had no head and facial anthropometric data available in order to design face/head PPE. OBJECTIVE: To describe...

Websuit 1: The Protective Wetsuit for Olympic Foiling Sailors

The project focused on improving Olympic foiling classes sailing athletes' safety: Nacra 17, iQFOiL, and IKA Formula Kite. The primary objective was to investigate dangerous circumstances with foil sailors to research the mechanisms that cause injuries and develop a design solution to prevent them. The research performed provides an integrated...

Designing personal respiratory protection equipment during a crisis situation

This project contains the graduation project of Fokke Jongerden as part of his curriculum of the master Integrated Product Design at the TU Delft. The project consists of a reflection and redesign of the Air-Wave.org Protector (AWP), a respiratory protection device designed by the non profit Air-Wave.org. The AWP is developed to protect hospital...

Smart Personal Protective Equipment: Sensing and Control: The future of face masks

The current COVID-19 pandemic shows the necessity of personal protective equipment and face masks. In the project, a filter module with an in-situ ultraviolet-sterilization technique is designed that can serve as a new kind of smart personal protective equipment (SPPE). This technique is not used in wearable devices as of yet. The project thus...