M8 Intensive Care bed
Developed at Howard Wright 2007-2011
Developed at Howard Wright 2007-2011
All work conducted on the M8 ICU bed was within the Howard Wright Reseach and Development team. My main responsibilities involved research, ideation, prototyping, detail design and setup for production.
Insights
Clutter
Existing ICUs (Intensive Care Units) require a vast range of life support and monitoring products making the immediate area around the patient cluttered, which increases the chance of user error.
Cardiac chair position
Patients recovering in ICU are transferred to a soft lounge chair to get the patient sitting up, encouraging easier breathing and the draining of chest fluids. The transfer placed the patient and caregiver at risk.
X-ray / C-Arm Image Intensifier
We found a need for enabling accurate and quick C-arm image intensifier usage around the patient, and also general X-ray shots on the bed. Current beds required patient transfers to a radiolucent platform, placing the patient and caregiver at risk of injury.
Existing ICUs (Intensive Care Units) require a vast range of life support and monitoring products making the immediate area around the patient cluttered, which increases the chance of user error.
Cardiac chair position
Patients recovering in ICU are transferred to a soft lounge chair to get the patient sitting up, encouraging easier breathing and the draining of chest fluids. The transfer placed the patient and caregiver at risk.
X-ray / C-Arm Image Intensifier
We found a need for enabling accurate and quick C-arm image intensifier usage around the patient, and also general X-ray shots on the bed. Current beds required patient transfers to a radiolucent platform, placing the patient and caregiver at risk of injury.
Ideation
Hygiene - Bodily fluids trapped in the bed caused a problem with infection control and a drain on nurse time. Concept sketches explored easy to clean components and surfaces. X-ray access - Sketching enabled fast concept explorations for gaining X-ray positioning to the patient on the bed.
Prototyping
Patient fold down side-rails - Crude foam and wood prototyping enabled early form and function developments. Below is a prototype exploring the patients entry and exit from the bed using the side-rails as aids.
Assymetric bed base - We built working prototypes to take into the ICU context. The assymetric base enables the C-arm X-ray machine to position accurately over the patient.
Cardiac chair position - This working prototype enabled us to tweak and test the chair position for patient comfort and medical viability.
Final Product
Research highlighted the need for simplicity, hygiene, C-arm access and a cardiac chair position. End users were demanding essentialism in critical care: a product that was so intuitive one didn’t need to read the manual before using it.
Every interaction point on the M8 ICU bed demonstrates that Howard Wright cares about the patient and caregiver.
Every interaction point on the M8 ICU bed demonstrates that Howard Wright cares about the patient and caregiver.
Team Awards (Howard Wright)
• Australian International DesignAward Supreme Winner (M8 ICU Bed) 2010
• Australian International DesignAward Gold Winner Medical category (M8 ICU Bed) 2010
• Red Dot Design AwardHonourable Mention (M8 ICU Bed) 2010
• IF Hannover Product Design Award (M8 ICU Bed) 2010
• Red Dot Design AwardHonourable Mention (M8 ICU Bed) 2010
• IF Hannover Product Design Award (M8 ICU Bed) 2010
