Author: wch7te
Reflections….. The post to rule them all
With the final video presentations behind us, I wanted to fully reflect on this project and the last half of the semester.
First I want to mention the video presentations. At first it was very stressful to have the video presentation sprung upon us and I personally have very little experience making videos. However I think our video turned out well and portrayed our specific process and experience rather well. Also the entire class’s videos were great and really showed all the different experiences people had. I really felt like I knew what each team went through all semester. The video presentation itself was different than the majority of classes and captured way more material than any other 5 minute presentation could have. However some more guidance or time on video making/expectations would have really sped up the process and polished them. We spent a large chunk of our time storyboarding and actually making/editing the video but I almost would have preferred to make more iterations and come up with a better physical prototype during that time. Then the class could have a dedicated week or so for video making. Overall though, I was very happy with the video format and all that it offered.
The project itself was an extremely valuable experience. I learned so much about the design process and how hard it is to go from a medical need to a physical prototype. Specifically the importance of feedback was monumental in our design process. We also realized how it’s important to take this feedback with a grain of salt and recognize biases. Our team got hung up on the feedback we received from healthcare professionals and constantly pivoted our design approach as a result. Given more time or better management on our part, I would have really liked to explore the idea of modular inflation combined with a monitoring or data feedback system. I slightly regret not focusing on one idea and creating more prototypes but I also think we gained an experience that some other teams didn’t. However, based on what I observed and personally seeing the effect that existing devices have on older patients, this automated inflation idea could have a profound effect on sedated patients in the PICU. Therefore I could see myself pursuing this further and coming up with final physical prototypes.
As far as the class goes in general, I enjoyed the free range we had on almost everything. It allowed us to do what we wanted and how we wanted, which I think was extremely valuable and shouldn’t be sacrificed. Too many classes sacrifice creativeness and “vagueness” for structure to make things easier for grading or teaching. But, the class could use a little more guidance as far as expectations and what will be due. Also I think the class would really benefit from being focused on the design process itself, and not the entire process from observation to need to final prototypes.
Lastly I want to emphasize that some of the information in this course was valuable and relatable. I used some material that we’ve learned to be successful in a number of my other classes. For instance, my final ideas report had a design component and this course taught me several skills and thought processes that allowed me to run a successful experiment. In the future I hope more design based classes will be taught in the biomedical engineering department and eventually an entire curriculum can be created around biodesign. It’s an important field and there really isn’t anything like it for students at UVA that are passionate about design, medicine, and biology.
**Just wanted to say thank you to the whole teaching team!
Design really is a Learning Process
As our team is coming along with our final medical design project, I have really learned how important it is to have outside ‘consultants’ and differing viewpoints. Specifically for our group, it has been a very iterative and ever-changing process. It is so important to pay attention to all the details you see and hear while observing in the hospital and brainstorming ideas for our design.
Personally, I really enjoy the brainstorming aspect of this project. I like listing off random ideas and coming up with weird or unthought of solutions to known problems. Compiling these ideas and going through the pros and cons of each is just really interesting. Then our group eventually narrowed down our list of ideas to five different ones, including an inflatable device, a waterbed with flow, a modular blanket device, a mechanical pulley system, and a monitoring system. The inflation idea seemed the most promising to us as a group, while the monitoring system was more or less just an extra idea that took a different approach to the problem of positional plagiocephaly in sedated infants. The main reasons we liked these ideas is that they were automated, fairly simple, and freed up the nurses time.
So we recently decided to take these ideas and run them by a few nurses in the PICU. While at first the nurses seemed to like our ideas, we eventually found that a few of the nurses weren’t particularly fond of an automated system. This sentiment was shared by the majority of the long-time nurses at the hospital. It turns out that they like to have a reason to go into the room and physically touch the patients. One particular nurse was worried about nurses getting lazy because of automation. There was definitely the feeling that yes, automation would simplify their day, but it is their job to physically interact with their patients and constantly check up on them. This is especially important in intensive care units, which is part of our patient population criteria.
However, there was more positive feedback about a monitoring system of some sort for the patients’ cribs. The nurses liked the idea because they still could physically touch the patient while possibly improving their current care. Therefore we have currently been prototyping and altering our need statement to better align with a monitoring based solution since we originally did not anticipate we would explore this idea any further. Ultimately we have changed directions and have a very different perception of the need now, as opposed to our first observations. There has been a lot more iterations and changes to our idea than we expected, but I think that’s what design is all about.
So Far… – 2nd Post
Coming into this course I expected us to be given a clinical area to shadow in and basically be handed a problem that needed to be solved with an obvious solution. So far that is not the case, and I have found out that I enjoy the class much more because it is not. The PHP enlightened me on what kind of empathy it takes to help someone achieve a goal and just how important their perspective is on that goal. Someone may say that they want to do something or need help fixing something in their life. They also give you ideas about how you should fix it, but the PHP made me realize this often isn’t the root problem or solution. The act of interviewing and questioning my partner, at the beginning of the process, allowed me to really delve into why it is a problem and how it became one. Which in turn helped drastically with designing the interventions. Basically what I am trying to get at is that trying to come up with a solution or fix to a problem is much more that just getting a problem and brainstorming solutions. The empathy and perspective from the patient is just as, if not more, important as the problem.
This brings me to how I am starting to realize why we have been focusing solely on observing while shadowing and only coming up with possible need areas, almost halfway into the semester. I feel like I already have much more perspective on problems in the PICU, NICU, and developmental pediatrics. Some things that I was looking for and thought would definitely be problems, even after shadowing, turned out not to really be that important or needed. Being able to talk to Dr. Frank after observing and discussing observations with friends really affected my need areas. For instance a majority of problems are systemic, political, and social in nature. But I definitely have a much better grasp on design now than I would have if we just started jumping into solutions for ‘very apparent’ problems within pediatrics. So I am looking forward to the rest of the semester on the medical design portion of the class.
First Post (1/20) – Casey
My name is William Harrison but I go by middle name, Casey. I’m from Richmond, Virginia and some interests of mine include snowboarding, sports of any kind, biomedical engineering, and snow (which hopefully we’ll have plenty of by this due date!). As a biomedical engineering student I want to get into the medical device industry, specifically involving orthopedics, but I am open to exploring many other paths. Based on my past few years and previous courses, I have developed a passion for the design process and coming up with solutions to simple or complex problems. This being one of the reasons I want to take this class and I feel as though this will give me a learning experience unlike any other class. It would also be fantastic if this class led to my Capstone project for next year. However the biggest thing I hope to get from this course is a chance to use what I enjoy and know to help somebody.
– Casey Harrison
BME Design 