HEALTH
Impetus for change
In the course of his intermediate diploma this year, Leon Felix Voss, a student of Prof. Peter Eckart at the Hochschule für Gestaltung (HfG) in Offenbach (Hessen State University of Art and Design), analysed the system from pill production to packaging and transport to dispensing. The result is, on the one hand, a proposal on how this system could be changed to make it more efficient – in terms of reducing packaging waste and saving time when sorting the tablets and filling the containers. On the other hand, the aspiring product designer has designed a reusable prototype for the container itself, which could replace the current disposable solution.
Anna Moldenhauer: Leon, how did you come up with the idea for "Connect"?
Leon Felix Voss: In the course of the illness of a family member, I saw how much trouble sorting the tablets causes and how much waste is created in the process. I wanted to optimise this process. The basic idea for a new form of tablet dispenser was therefore already part of my application file for university.
How can I imagine your further research?
Leon Felix Voss: It was not easy to find information about how much waste was produced in the previous system. Therefore, I had to derive the necessary basic information for my project by estimating how many tablets are distributed to the patients per day and how much packaging waste is produced.
Did you have the opportunity to do research in hospitals or care facilities?
Leon Felix Voss: Friends and acquaintances who work in these institutions have described the previous system to me. Every time I spoke to them, they confirmed that the system is simply not efficient and does not conserve resources.
Have you also been able to find out why the system has not yet been optimised?
Leon Felix Voss: There are numerous regulations that have made optimisation difficult so far, such as with regard to the sterilisation of the tablets. For example, they are not allowed to touch each other during storage and transport. These are factors that make the big picture complex. My system optimisation is therefore rather abstract, because a lot has to change in the industry before it can be realised. For me, it was primarily about setting the starting point and providing a thought-provoking impulse for change. For me, this is just as much a task for designers as product design itself.
What was your idea behind the system change?
Leon Felix Voss: What I wanted to change was to use time more efficiently and reduce plastic waste. Both with regard to the distribution of medication and with a view to saving time for the nursing staff. My professor, Mr. Peter Eckart, also encouraged me to think about how the distribution system could be made more accessible to patients. As a result, three phases emerged for me: the delivery route, the machine for sorting the medication and the container, which I finally developed as a product prototype.
What was your reason for focusing on the container for the development of a prototype?
Leon Felix Voss: Yes, because the container represents the system and forms the bridge between the health sector and the patients. The personalised container also conveys a form of appreciation, in contrast to the shot cups previously used in the dispensing of medicines.
What was important to you in the design?
Leon Felix Voss: In the course of the process, I tried out many forms in order to be able to determine which requirements have to be met - for example, that the container should have a certain size so that it can be handled easily by all age groups. In addition, it should be multi-layered, because not every patient takes the medication in the same way. During development, it was also important to take into account the view of the nursing staff, who have to recognise as quickly as possible who the container with the corresponding contents is for. Through constant trials in prototyping, I then found the final shape. Safe stacking with the help of a clamping system was also important.
The forms that led to the final product could then be seen in the exhibition on the HfG tour.
Leon Felix Voss: Exactly, the staircase-like arrangement of the first prototypes makes it possible to follow the formal-aesthetic process.
Even though the container is a prototype, what was important to you in the choice of materials? Were there considerations regarding the use of recycled plastic or biodegradable material?
Leon Felix Voss: The plastic container is constructed in two parts so that it can be produced using injection moulding. I also focused on the fact that the cycle is possible in a reusable system and thus the plastic used remains within the system, but recycled plastics can still be used for the container.
For system optimisation, would a machine still have to be developed to ensure disinfection of the containers?
Leon Felix Voss: In my imagination, the vending machine, which I designed abstractly for the project, takes over all the functions: It sorts and dispenses the tablets, uses them and then cleans and re-labels the containers. The machine is supposed to take over all the main work steps until the medication is dispensed, which would otherwise be at the expense of the time that the nursing staff have available for the patients.
Where would the apparatus be located in the building?
Leon Felix Voss: At the moment, the medicine cabinets have a specific space in the care facilities and hospitals, the technology of the new system would then replace them there.
How would you like to proceed with the idea of process optimisation in the health system?
Leon Felix Voss: Since the realisation of my concept depends on the change of very many factors of the previous system, I see my task as a designer at the moment rather in giving food for thought. I like to think my way into technical processes in order to optimise them. In addition, I find the design I have encountered so far in hospitals and care facilities terrible. It was interesting for me to see how much scepticism the suggestion of a re-design or process optimisation for the health sector can trigger. In addition to the idea for "Connect", I also dealt with the redesign of a wheelchair, for example, where I was confronted with the question of whether it is necessary to design a medical product that is primarily functional in this way. Every detail of a wheelchair is well thought out, is there still room for design? I think so, because the pure function of a medical product does not contribute to the well-being of the ill person. That's why I want to show with "Connect" that the motto 'Less is more. Less is too little' can also be applied to our health system.
