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Revision as of 17:00, 25 February 2012

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

1. How did you select which stethoscope to buy?
2. How did you research your options?
3. What factors played the biggest role in your choice?

Using the product

1. How were you taught to use this equipment (in a class, on the job, etc.)?
2. Do you warm up, clean the face of, or do anything else to the stethoscope prior to using it on a patient?
3. Does your stethoscope perform equally well in all conditions (temperatures, background noises, etc.)?
4. How often do you buy a new stethoscope? Why do you buy a new one?
5. What type of maintenance operations do you perform on your stethoscope?
6. How do you carry the stethoscope and why (around neck, in pocket, etc.)?

Suggestions for Improvement

1. What don't you like about this product?
2. 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

Scanned Sketches here

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?
• Alternate material selection for a light-weight design
• Designing the appropriate and low-cost heating element - Drawing heat from user's body? Battery-powered?
• Designing the sanitizing element - Alcohol patches in the holder must be easily replaceable

Design 2: Headset Redesign

Design 3: Sitting on our butts

Competitor Products Research

Pugh Chart

Gantt Chart

Summary and Recommendations

Appendix (100 ideas)

1. Water filled tubes
2. Alcohol filled tubes
3. Oil filled tubes
4. Snap-on earbuds instead of screwed-on
5. Noise-cancelling headphones
6. Noise-cancelling earbuds
7. Aperture style diaphragm
8. Blood pressure cuff interface
9. Disposable diaphragm surface/film
10. Diaphragm heater and holder integrated on coat(battery)
11. Alcohol Pouch integrated on coat
12. Coat pouch/clip around the chest area
13. A coat pouch/holder that heats and cleans the diaphragm
14. A diaphragm heater using Peltier cells
15. Replace diaphragm material with self-sanitizing brass
16. Integrating tubes in the coat sleeve and the diaphragm in the cuff
17. Hugging stethoscope coat (integrated in the coat so user hugs the patient during use)
18. Integrating a heart rate monitor on chestpiece
19. Integrating a murmuring sound indicator on chestpiece
20. A hand-held separate heart rate monitor (connects to chestpiece by wire)
21. A hand-held separate heart rate monitor (Bluetooth)
22. Bluetooth connection to user's mobile device (like an app)
23. Replace air-filled tubes by electronic wires (headphones cables)
24. Hooked up to visual display on eyeglasses
25. Sonar sensor integrated on the diaphragm
26. Integration of a respiratory rate indicator
27. Extendable tubes for better reach
28. Rubber earpieces
29. Silicone earpieces
30. Sleep plug earpieces
31. Ear cover earpieces
32. Integration of the stethoscope on dummies that create sounds for medical training
33. Retractable stethoscope tubbing
34. Heated fluid in stethoscope for comfort
35. Bose styled head set
36. Integrated with pulse oximeter
37. speaker output stethoscope
38. speaker integration stethoscope
39. broadcasting noise for training purposes
40. integrating recordable lung sounds
41. integrated timer stethoscope
42. golf ball cleaning system
43. air blasting cleaning system
44. magnetic stethoscope holder
45. gel filled ear pieces
46. adjustable triple leaf spring
47. suction cup ear muffs
48. adjustable head band connecting ear pieces
49. amplification through mechanical resonance
50. Bio-inspired sound amplification using inner ear drum
51. Signal processor at junction
52. Adjustable drum

Reference