Can the F1 racing team really design and build Ventilators?
NOORZAMAN RASHID
Chief Executive, Chair, NED and 'C' Suite coach : Nudging organisations and people to the next level of performance
How can manufacturers design ventilators with no previous experience or knowledge of healthcare?
Concerned with the growing number of manufacturers putting their hands up to design and manufacture ventilators, the Chartered Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors has produced guidance https://bit.ly/HFandVentilators. This is particularly aimed at firms who have little or no knowledge of healthcare and have previously never designed ventilators or medical devices for use in the most serious of circumstances a "pandemic"
The guidance was produced in response to a request from the NHS and has now been tabled with the Government to send to all prospective manufacturers. These firms may have little or no experience and many will be looking to turn around designs within weeks. Our guidance notes "Human Factors in the design and operation of ventilators for Covid-19 focusses on the key steps firms need to address to ensure that the products they design "under crisis for a crisis" are actually usable and do not contribute to human or system errors.
There may be a temptation to produce a product quickly without going through proper testing and user research. This may achieve producing a product quickly by volume. But there are dangers hidden in this approach. The medical device could end up taking longer to set up, may require more attention to keep hygienically clean, less easy to operate and prone to human error contributing to the loss of life. Many with no healthcare experience may not even realise that clinicians treating someone with Covid-19 will be wearing a mask, goggles ( and possibly spectacles under the goggles), a visor, surgical suit, plastic apron and two pairs of gloves taped to them making them less agile and less dextrous at altering settings. Settings may not be visible, controls may not be the correct size and alarms could signal the wrong things! There is more technical detail involved in this advice than meets the eye!
In this guidance 7 themes are set out covering the user experience, risks, testing and training. Each them is explained in plain language, the links to covid-19 are made and key learning points are shared.
The Chartered Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors has set up an expert panel of clinicians, designers and HF experts to advice manufacturers. We are advocating that firms share usability data and research to help speed up the process without compromising the quality of any ventilators manufactured. Visit this link for the guidance notes https://bit.ly/HFandVentilators
Safety and Human Factors Specialist (MSc MCIEHF C.ErgHF MRAeS)
4 年Great effort from the CIEHF to support organisations who don't have experience or know-how in designing and manufacturing medical devices! Many of you rightly pointed out that sourcing more ventilators is the answer (for some reason it doesn't happen). Whenever the call to source the ventilators locally from scratch is right or wrong, it's a high-risk initiative. Besides obvious, like, does the device do the job that's intended in a safe and usable way, there is another aspect that impacts the overall efficiency and effectiveness of a solution - the manufacturability. There is a difference between design a thing that works and design a thing that works and it is manufacturable.
Chief Executive, Chair, NED and 'C' Suite coach : Nudging organisations and people to the next level of performance
4 年Existing manufacturers are doing a good job but their capacity has reached its peak. Ventilators May have up to 700 components including microchips that help regulate oxygen supply dependent on a patients need. Supply chains of component parts have also disrupted the current situation
Design | Education | Marketing | Consultancy
4 年I agree with Gerry. If we cannot support our existing and proven providers, what is the point of designing from scratch..pure PR bumph I think!
design | innovation | place
4 年so many aspects are hidden and seldom considered - especially by those with limited understanding - this should be compulsory reading!