IVIO - For Effortless ICU Transports

IVIO is a new patient health monitoring system that aims to make patient monitoring in hospitals safer, more efficient and more flexible.

When patients arrive at the hospital's intensive care unit, ICU, they are in a very critical state and require constant monitoring of vital signs - the status of the body's vital functions - and support from life-sustaining machines. This means that a patient is constantly surrounded by many machines and connected to a great number of cables and tubes.

The challenges arise when the patient then has to be transported to other parts of the hospital for examinations, such as the CT-Scan, MRI, or surgery room. Since the medical staff has to be able to see the accurate values at any point in time, they have to move the patient with all the machines and cables, which becomes a time-consuming task for nurses, who have to deal with the machines' tangled cables while being under immense time pressure.

The IVIO monitoring system addresses these challenges by simplifying the transport process. It is made up of two components: a completely redefined patient monitor and a display specially designed for the transporting of patients.

The monitor's new layout shortens sensor connections, reduces cable entanglement, and helps nurses keep the cables organized throughout the whole transport process. It reduces the steps taken to prepare the patient for transport down to moving only one single cable. This greatly simplifies the procedures, saves time, and leads to faster transports.

The transport-display, on the other hand, enables effortless monitor visibility for any hospital room setup. With its universal mounting connection, it can easily adapt to any existing hospital bed, making transport preparation fast and flexible.

With IVIO, nurses can work more efficiently, spending less time on changing and moving equipment, and most importantly, focusing on what matters the most: the patient's health.

IVIO was a 10-week collaboration project between Getinge and Umeå Institute of Design, exploring and looking for relevant design opportunities for the next generation of intensive care monitoring solutions.

RESEARCH

The project was carried out with a user-centered design approach to identify opportunity areas based on today's challenges and user needs. The field research started with a visit to the intensive care department at the hospital in Umeå to gain more knowledge about the ICU environment, the procedures, and the amount of medical staff involved.

Later on, a visit to the local hospital's training center allowed us to see and test the ICU equipment which gave us insights into the ICU room-setup: the machines and equipment needed to monitor patients, how the patient is connected to the sensors, as well as, how nurses prepare the patient for transport.

The IVIO concept is based on field research, interviews, feedback, and validation together with ICU specialists in Umeå.

PROBLEM

ICU Transports

When critical patients arrive at the hospital, they need to be transported to the ICU department, where they have to be supported by a complicated set-up of life-sustaining machines. The patient is often assigned a specific room at the ICU, but may be transferred multiple times to other parts of the hospital for examinations, such as to CT-Scans MRIs, or the surgery room.

These frequent patient transports are time-consuming tasks for nurses, who have to spend a lot of time on every preparation: switching from a bed-side equipment set-up to a portable one, constantly double-checking the machines and equipment, and dealing with its tangled cables, while being under immense time pressure.

Since time is short, nurses will use the most efficient way possible to handle things, even if a smarter solution was provided. This often leads to a cable mess on top of the patient that affects the whole transport journey.

"When you don't take time to prepare things properly, you create more problems afterward." /Doctor at the ICU

Therefore, this project aimed to find new design solutions to help medical staff, especially nurses, optimize the workflow of ICU transports, save time and focus on what matters the most: monitoring the patient's health.

PAIN POINTS

Cable management: Cables get tangled throughout the whole transport process. If there is too much tension on a cable the sensor can accidentally get disconnected, leading to an interruption in monitoring, health risks for the patient, and delayed transport.

Time-consuming: Switching from a bed-side equipment set-up to a portable one, before and after every transport, takes a lot of time.

Mental workload: A high-stress situation where nurses have to keep track of many things and constantly double-check the machines and equipment.

Physical workload: Heavy equipment and multiple machines have to be moved with the patient during transport.

GOALS

Effort and Error: Help the medical staff minimize efforts and errors in their daily tasks during patient transport.

Safety: Provide safe transportation for the patient.

Cables: Improve cable management and organization for and during patient transports.

Staff Resources: Reduce the number of staff needed to transport a patient.

Journey: Reduce the steps that have to be taken to transport a patient.

Time-saving: Create a design solution that can speed up the process of patient transport preparation.

IDEATION PROCESS

We started by examining the current patient monitor since that seemed to generate the most problems in this scenario with its long cables and very small screen. We then ideated around how we could redefine the current layout of its technical components and tested different versions on a mockup ICU scenario we built out of simple cardboard materials in our working space. This helped to test different interactions without having to visit the hospital. After ideating and sketching different setups we built some first mocks-ups, which we could then discuss with a nurse from the training center and doctors from the hospital's cardiothorax unit. Based on their feedback, we ideated on the overall shape of the monitor and the type of sensor connections. A lot of thought went into cleanability, cable management, the placement in the bed next to the patient, as well as easing the interactions during preparation and transport.

VALIDATION

After this initial development phase, we discussed and validated our concepts with a nurse from the training center, the HCP's at the cardiothorax unit. We created physical mockups to aid this validation process. The validation and testing were done at the hospital's training facility in order to get the most accurate testing results and feedback.

SOLUTION

How might we optimize the workflow of ICU transports?

The IVIO system rethinks the cable layout around the patient, keeping all the tubes to the right side of the patient and all the electronic cables to the other side making the transport preparation less complicated. The system is composed of a new patient monitor and a transport display for universal use.

The IVIO Patient Monitor improves cable management throughout the whole process: it shortens sensor connections which reduces cable entanglement and helps nurses keep the cables organized.

The IVIO transport display enables effortless monitoring for any hospital room setup since these can vary greatly between hospitals. It can be easily mounted to any existing hospital bed, making transport preparation fast and flexible.

With the new solution, nurses only have to move one main cable, reducing the number of steps it usually takes to prepare patients for transport.

FEATURES

The IVIO Patient Monitor

The IVIO patient monitor has a very soft form factor since it is placed close to the patient. It doesn't take up much space in the bed but at the same time it is big enough for easy handling. While its soft aesthetics and closed surfaces make it suitable for hospital environments, its ergonomic size and proportions allow for effortless plug-and-play interactions.

1. Silicone Bottom & Cable Management: For a better grip surface on the bed and easy cable-bundling for air travel.

2. USB-C Plug: Extra parameters can easily be added through a universal USB-C connection for more precise monitoring.

3. Silence Alarm Button: It lights up for better visibility in darkness, showing the respective priority color of the alarm: red, yellow, or green.

4. Pillow or Sheet Clip: The clip on the monitor cable can be attached to the patient's pillowcase or bed sheet and secures the monitor's placement next to the patient.

The IVIO Transport Display

The IVIO transport display can be easily mounted at the end of the patient bed. The enlarged screen size and adjustable display angle ensure good visibility and allow the nurse to focus simultaneously on the patient's facial expressions, as well as, their vital signs.

1. Integrated Kickstand: It raises the screen to a 30° angle to ensure better visibility in cases where the last resort is to place the display directly into the patient's bed.

2. Adaptable Interface: The digital user interface adapts to the direction of use. Turning the display automatically changes the orientation to landscape or portrait mode.

3. Screen Layouts: Its 13-inch screen enhances long-distance visibility. With a simple swipe action, the user can reveal different screen layouts customized to different monitoring scenarios.

4. Flexible Bed Mounting: The silicone strap and rubberized backside of the screen, ensure optimum grip and flexible attachment to different hospital bed geometries. It allows adjustable viewing angles.

BENEFITS

Organized cables

Time-saving

Plug & Play

Flexible usage

Easily implementable