Extreme Surgical Contexts: The Perspective of Industrial Design Engineering

Healthcare has an increasing presence in the agenda of both design practice and design research. In the particular case of surgical care, the specialized products designed to be used in advanced operating rooms (OR), sometimes have specific characteristics that do not allow for proper functioning in poor-resourced settings or in contexts of emergencies such as natural disasters. Diverse literature identifies barriers to healthcare and medical device innovation that are relevant for designers and ought to be considered throughout all product development process. In this paper, the reviewed contextual barriers to the use of medical devices are translated into examples of design relevant interventions. From business approaches to technical details, design engineering practice has within its domain the potential to overcome some barriers. Most importantly this research attempts to contribute to the practice of design by 1) enriching existing literature about methodological approaches to design for complex contexts and 2) creating an information platform that supports the stakeholders involved in the development of surgical equipment, designing more context adequate products.