Therapeutic and wearable devices

A user-centred approach, combined with a versatile design and engineering capability applied to a wide range to therapeutic devices leveraging applied technologies to deliver clinical benefits and improved patient outcomes.

KD have extensive experience in therapeutic device design, including wound care, urology, radiotherapy, ostomy care, skin therapy and prosthetics. A human-centred, empathetic approach helps tailor solutions to patient needs. KD’s design and engineering capabilities enable develop and test robust solutions to meet functional requirements.

The challenges of increasing healthcare costs and staff shortages are driving development in many fast-growing areas such as the increasing use of ambulatory devices and patient-self-therapy.

Ambulatory and wearable devices

Ambulatory devices are increasingly offering responses to many of the largest healthcare challenges today, by relieving the pressure of hospital occupancy as well as engaging patients more actively in their care, reducing cost of care whilst increasing patient convenience. By deploying wearable technologies, remote diagnostics and monitoring can be enabled, facilitating personalised care and enhanced outcomes. Already a strong trend, the impact of the pandemic, both in terms of stretched resources as well as growth in telemedicine, has further accelerated interest in ambulatory solutions.

KD’s experience in this area includes:

Patient, users and payer research and business modelling
Design development and prototyping
Human Factors assessment and testing
Design for manufacture

Wound care

Advances in science and technology have driven development in wound care, allowing faster recovery times from surgery or trauma, new solutions for complex wounds, improved outcomes for chronic wounds and reduced hospital time.

KD have experience in wound care has included research with patient, tissue clinicians and surgeons as well as development of development and testing of wound therapy and wound monitoring.

Prosthetics and implants

Some of the most significant human-centred design challenges our team has faced have involved the design of prosthetics. Products which become part of someone’s body could hardly be more personal. As such, developing a deep understanding of human needs is essential to designing and engineering solutions that work at a personal, human level.

KD have particular experience in design of devices to be worn on and attached to the human body, applying considerations of anthropometrical, functional, aesthetic and emotional needs.

Ostomy care

A particular area of prosthetics in which KD has particular experience is in the design of ostomy care products. KD’s project experience in development of the award-winning Pelican ModaVi colostomy and ileostomy bag range, included deep understanding of patient needs as well as developing new functionality to deliver enhanced ease of use and comfort.