Product design for the health sector: usability issues in embedding tracing technologies in surgical instruments

Abstract

Surgical instruments are a major asset and a significant share of the total capital spending of a hospital. It is therefore important to track the product inside the health provider’s facilities and when it temporarily leaves them. One of the technologies available to face this problem is RFID. Nevertheless, there are many challenges in incorporating an RFID tag in surgical instruments. Aside from technical issues, it is vital to ensure that the tag placement does not hamper the performance of the health professional using the instrument. Therefore, the aim of this work is to develop a polymer-based product that features an embedded RFID, and which can be physically coupled to surgical instruments, while simultaneously ensuring the user requirements listed. For this purpose, usability test have been conducted with surgeons using different physical mock-ups, and the results have been benchmarked as input for concept selection among different solutions. In this paper we describe the methodological process employed, from initial design through physical mock-ups tests, in a context of rapid development. The same methodology can be replicated for the development of other products for the healthcare sector, where technical requirements and specifications are very strict and where adoption of new technology is highly dependent on the opinion of healthcare professionals.