Precise control for Minimally Invasive Surgery
In collaboration with a leading medical device company, we designed and developed a next-gen RF ablation probe. The device enhances a surgeon’s precise control during procedures which broadens its procedural applications and reduces patient risk. The Meddux team developed initial handpiece concepts and prototypes with a focus on integrating seamlessly into the current surgical workflow.
Process:
- User Research
- Journey Mapping
- Concept Generation
- Rapid Prototyping
- Mechanical Design
- Industrial Design
- User Studies
Understanding the procedure
We began with understanding the procedure and the ergonomic concerns of the device through desktop studies, role playing, and interviews. These activities gave us a strong understanding of the different grips and actions necessary for the procedure and the patient/physician positioning while carrying out these actions.
A Journey Map was created to document and analyze the thoughts and feelings of both surgeons and nurses throughout a procedure. This was used to distill out pain points and opportunities to improve this next gen device.
(Note: This Journey Map has key content removed or obscured for client confidentiality)
Designing an intuitive workflow
A key concern was how to add additional controls to the handpiece while maintaining an intuitive, single-handed interface. Via sketch exploration, rough prototyping, and user interviews, we gained a deeper understanding of how clinicians think when interacting with a device like this and the mental models they had around different types of controls.
Function and usability
The handpiece’s form was refined along with the functional mechanical design. The focus was on developing important touchpoints that tied to the operating principle and created an intuitive user interface that would enable surgeons to adequately evaluate the new functionality.
User feedback
Fully functional prototypes were used by surgeons to perform various routine procedures on cadavers. Their feedback on the new functionality was strongly positive and through observation and interviews we left the lab with actionable insights on areas of success and areas for improvement leading into the next iteration of the device.
