Stethoscope opportunity
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Contents |
Group Information
24-441 Spring 2012, Group 3
Kellen Chow (Team Leader with the new hair cut)
Jacob Divone (EMT with the puking guts)
KinHang Leung (Brainstorming Facilitator with the weird balloon animals)
Cecily Sunday (Charts Specialist with the sweet grandma)
Report II - Opportunity: Market Research and Design Concepts
Executive Summary
Market Research and Observations
In order to determine stakeholder needs we conducted user interviews using the following set of questions:
Choosing the Product
- How did you select which stethoscope to buy?
- How did you research your options?
- What factors played the biggest role in your choice?
Using the product
- How were you taught to use this equipment (in a class, on the job, etc.)?
- Do you warm up, clean the face of, or do anything else to the stethoscope prior to using it on a patient?
- Does your stethoscope perform equally well in all conditions (temperatures, background noises, etc.)?
- How often do you buy a new stethoscope? Why do you buy a new one?
- What type of maintenance operations do you perform on your stethoscope?
- How do you carry the stethoscope and why (around neck, in pocket, etc.)?
Suggestions for Improvement
- What don't you like about this product?
- How would you suggest improving this product?
Highlights from User Interviews
1 retired nurse, 1 3rd year of nursing, 1st year med student, 1 trauma surgeon, 1 clinician
Stethoscope selection
- hospitals supply cheaper ones or at a discount
- use cheap ones until you figure out what your environment and specialty was
- problem with diaphragm cracking and drying up
Top Stakeholder Product Needs
Our Top 3 Design Concepts
Design 1: Coat Integration with Heater and Sanitizer
Potential Design Opportunities:
- Integration should not affect the manufacturing of the coat; the design should focus on making mechanisms on the stethoscope that would easily attach to an average doctor's coat.
- Integrating the tubes inside/under the collar - What kind of attachment mechanism...Pins? Velcro? Adhesive? Clips?
- Mounting the heating/sanitizing holder on the chest area of the coat - What kind of attachment mechanism...Safety Pins? Clip? Velcro?
Design 2: Headset Redesign
Design 3: Sitting on our butts
Competitor Products Research
Pugh Chart
Gantt Chart
Summary and Recommendations
Appendix (100 ideas)
- Water filled tubes
- Alcohol filled tubes
- Snap-on earbuds instead of screwed-on
- Noise-cancelling headphones
- Noise-cancelling earbuds
- Aperture style diaphragm
- Blood pressure cuff interface
- Disposable diaphragm surface/film
- Diaphragm heater and holder integrated on coat(battery)
- Alcohol Pouch integrated on coat
- Coat pouch/clip around the chest area
- A coat pouch/holder that heats and cleans the diaphragm
- A diaphragm heater using Peltier cells
- Replace diaphragm material with self-sanitizing brass
- Integrating tubes in the coat sleeve and the diaphragm in the cuff
- Hugging stethoscope coat (integrated in the coat so user hugs the patient during use)
- Integrating a heart rate monitor on chestpiece
- Integrating a murmuring sound indicator on chestpiece
- A hand-held separate heart rate monitor (connects to chestpiece by wire)
- A hand-held separate heart rate monitor (Bluetooth)
- Bluetooth connection to user's mobile device (like an app)
- Replace air-filled tubes by electronic wires (headphones cables)
- Hooked up to visual display on eyeglasses
- Sonar sensor integrated on the diaphragm
- Integration of a respiratory rate indicator
- Extendable tubes for better reach
- Rubber earpieces
- Silicone earpieces
- Sleep plug earpieces
- Integration of the stethoscope on dummies that create sounds for medical training
- Retractable stethoscope tubbing
- Heated fluid in stethoscope for comfort
- Bose styled head set
- Integrated with pulse oximeter
- speaker output stethoscope
- speaker integration stethoscope
- broadcasting noise for training purposes
- integrating recordable lung sounds
- integrated timer stethoscope
- golf ball cleaning system
- air blasting cleaning system
- magnetic stethoscope holder
- gel filled ear pieces
- adjustable