Design By Example: a Web-based Tool for Context-driven Design of Biomedical Devices
Open Access
- Author:
- Dzombak, Rachel Victoria
- Area of Honors:
- Bioengineering
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Science
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Peter J Butler, Thesis Honors Advisor
Peter J Butler, Thesis Supervisor
Khanjan Mehta, Faculty Reader
Margaret June Slattery, Faculty Reader - Keywords:
- medical devices
developing countries
context
design
bioengineering
africa
Kenya - Abstract:
- The World Health Organization estimates that international donors from developed countries fund nearly 80% of health care equipment in developing countries. Almost 70% of the donated equipment is not in use because of lack of maintenance or spare parts, or because local personnel do not know how to use it, representing a tragic waste of potentially valuable resources. This disconnect arises because equipment from developed countries is designed in a context that is substantially different than that of developing countries with respect to resources, infrastructure, social and behavioral norms, and the healthcare environment. Further, even if the target population for design is the developing country, the typical biomedical engineer in the U.S. is unlikely to be familiar with the unique challenges of designing devices for such resource-constrained environments. The web-based design tool described provides a new method to meet this need for context-driven biomedical device design by using real-world examples centered on pertinent anthropometric, contextual, social and economic considerations. This tool will aid a designer in design space exploration and ensure that every decision made in the design process can be defended by a well-informed rationale. Such a tool should provide a designer in a developed country the means to incorporate needs of the target user in a developing country from the concept generation phase through to the manufacturing phase.