Three times a year we hold a Learning and Development Day, allowing the team to clear their diaries and focus on the areas of development that they feel are beneficial to themselves and their work.
Each L&D day focuses on a different theme, with this year’s focus being 1% better, highlighting the value that can be found in consistent, incremental changes. These days present the opportunity to take a step back and re-focus, take part in workshops, courses and hackathons led by the team.
For our latest L&D Day, the Sustainability Lab ran a half day hackathon around sustainability and healthcare. Each team was given a pseudo client brief and tasked to develop a response that broadened the client’s consideration of sustainability. The teams used various methods to explore alternative approaches, including the “Circularity Deck” by Jan Konietsko, which captures strategies for circular design in 50 playing card-like prompts. This is an immersive and collaborative tool that facilitates systems-thinking and visualises connections between strategies to create compelling business value.
The group tackled three briefs that focused on finding sustainable solutions within the medical space, covering: surgical devices, diagnostic testing, and auto injectors. Improving people’s health outcomes is hugely rewarding, but there is also an uncomfortable reality that the impact of current healthcare systems on the planet is unsustainable. People’s needs can be met with less impact on the planet. So, we asked ourselves the question:
How might we meet the health needs of patients, while also meeting the needs of our planet?
The outcomes of the pitches were far-reaching. Here are some highlights:
Patient burden
Managing medical conditions can incur time, energy, pain, cost and stigma. Unsurprisingly, as a human-centred design consultancy, each group showed great sensitivity to not increasing the burden on patients when ideating solutions that had a lower environmental impact. For example, a reusable diagnostic test needs to be designed to compete with the convenience of a single use test by offering a better user experience. Scenarios such as running out of kits, misreading “C” for “Control” as “Covid” and accumulating guilt-inducing drawers of used tests, can all be challenged by prioritising sustainability and inclusivity.
Trust
For any medical device, the patient’s perception of trust is critical. The teams found that in a reusable device, establishing patient trust was both a challenge and opportunity. The device must maintain sterility and guarantee functionality over a longer period of use and wear than a single use device. However, a reusable device can be designed to be more robust and utilise materials that are more durable. Functionality can be included to enhance the performance, and, over time, the device’s reliability means patients are emotionally invested in the product, leading to business value creation from their repeat custom and engagement in service offerings.
Connected digital devices (enhance patient experience)
Patient outcomes can be improved by utilising data to personalise and optimise treatment plans. Regular users of auto-injectors can often find themselves feeling burdened by regulating their treatment and feel socially isolated, and although connected auto-injectors exist, they are not typically distributed by health care centres, despite their user benefits. One of the hack responses highlighted the potential for digitally connected auto-injectors to unite individuals and amplify the voices of communities to influence the provision of reusable devices. Digitising some treatment monitoring can also reduce time needed from health care practitioners, relieving pressure on an overstretched resource.
Modularity
Single use devices are often considered necessary to achieve functional and sterility requirements. For example, in diagnostics, chemical strip indicators are commonly embodied in a plastic casing, used once and disposed of. Our teams identified opportunities to reduce the quantity of single use waste by making modular systems that enable separation of the consumable element from reusable parts. The business model pitches for these systems weighted more cost into the initial “keeper” element, and then used a subscription-type repeat purchase of the consumable.
Informed systems (operational efficiency)
A key aspect of circular design strategies is the use of data to anticipate material and energy cycles. During the hack, groups discussed that reuse of medical devices requires processing to re-validate functionality and sterilisation. Embedding digital systems into device design enables reverse logistics tracking and can also inform production optimisation. For example, recording data about reprocessing times enables Just-In-Time delivery which avoids excessive production or storage costs.
Supply chain collaboration
Connecting stakeholders across supply chains enables streamlining of operations that can mutually benefit all involved. For example, auto-injector production is coordinated between drug manufacturers, device production, assembly sites and distributors who each typically source separate packaging for each stage of transport. The waste and cost accumulation could be reduced if sites collaborated to close the material flow loop.
Each of the teams demonstrated their knowledge of sustainable strategies both at a top-level systems approach and when considering the nuance of detailed design. Their responses compelled the panel of “clients” by being grounded in commercial awareness and were successful in broadening their consideration of sustainability.
A key factor of success was creating an environment of diverse thought by grouping teams who do not normally work together and is an exercise we often draw upon to kickstart client projects.
What challenges are you facing that a fresh perspective could help to solve? Balancing the needs of people and planet in medical care is complex but necessary, and full of opportunities for businesses. Find out more how our Sustainability Lab team can support your product development needs and contact our Sustainability Lab lead, Paul Cohen: paul.cohen@kinneirdufort.com
Explore more
