M O D E R N ME DI CI NE
DESIGNERS AS THE HUB OF COLLABORATION
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orking for Medtronic, the world’s largest medical device company, we are driven by a noble mission: “Alleviate pain, restore health, and extend life.” Although this mission statement is simple and elegant, the reality of achieving these goals through the medical device product development process is not. Stating the obvious, developing medical devices is an incredibly complex process. While every industry has its intricacies and all companies have their organizational challenges, the design and development of a new medical device, specifically at large corporations, is among the most complex. Through their work, medical device designers break down the barriers these complexities present. A Multifaceted Environment At Medtronic, we innovate in many ways, but primarily by creating new ways to harness the properties of technology, be they electrical, thermal, chemical, mechanical or digital, to treat or diagnose medical conditions. To sufficiently leverage these technologies, we require the input of individuals with deep expertise in all of these technical fields. We also rely on experts who are up to date with medicine’s continuously evolving understanding of how the human body functions. Even for the biological mechanisms we do understand, few specialists beyond medical doctors and researchers have the necessary comprehensive knowledge to be able to aid in developing a new medical device. An understanding of technology and physiology is not all we need to make an innovative medical device. We are still left wondering how someone will incorporate this new product in their work (doctors, nurses, techs) or their life (patients, caregivers). While we do know who our target users are, our ability to connect with them in
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order to gather input to refine our devices is limited by the nature of healthcare privacy, user prevalence, proximity and availability. This is the environment in which every medical device is developed. Further complicating the process are barriers that arise relative to the business of healthcare, the legality of intellectual property and the gauntlet of country-specific regulatory bodies. Whether you are a small startup or a company of tens of thousands across the globe, these are the realities of developing a medical device. To succeed in our mission as a company, every project team must rely on the deep expertise of the individual contributors who often—by nature of their roles—have narrow focuses. However, for a project to be successful, these deep experts must collaborate to see the big picture. Without collaboration, it is impossible to see how small decisions can lead to products that may function but fail to meet the needs and expectations of our customers. A Unique Role for Designers Designers are uniquely positioned to facilitate the necessary level of collaboration among the various clinical, technical and business contributors. We have found that applying the traditional design methods used by industrial designers for decades to the medical device development process brings user experience and meaningful outcomes to the forefront. By clearly understanding the context of use and user motivations, rapidly exploring ideas that focus on interactions and outcomes and creating clear and concise communication tools, designers provide a hub for the various workstreams to come together and explore how we as a collective work to achieve our mission. There is a common Venn diagram with three circles
