Design Stories​

Observation of simple Anti-Patterns leading to the idea of Mask Redesign

About the Organization / Customer & the Relationship Journey – 

School of Design Thinking has been closely working with SRM Institute of Science & Technology (SRMIST) to strengthen the Design Thinking engagement and work collaboratively to build a Design Thinking culture across the campus. As part of this journey, we have trained more than 170 Faculties across various specializations, across several campuses, on Design Thinking, Design Tools and importantly enabled them to bring a mindset transformation of the students, making them think differently. As part of the larger perspective, the University aimed to leverage Design Thinking to design a more student-centric approach to enhance the learning experience & shift the mindset of faculty from ‘Teaching Students’ to ‘Developing Learning for Students’. Leading by example, the University has embarked  on becoming the First Academic institution to educate the students on the concept of student Design Thinking with the help of a pool of trained Faculty (which will be expanded on a continual basis quarter-on-quarter).

Design Application by Faculty –

Dr. T. Jayanthi from the Dept of Biomedical Engineering, carried her learning to the next level where she applied an important concept of Design Thinking in her area of expertise. One of her projects involved redesigning masks for elders with Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) disorder.

Key Takeaways –

  • Observation of Patterns and Anti-Patterns on breathing of the OSA patients helped in identifying the correct problem to solve 
  • Complementing the secondary research with Design insights during the ideation stage
  • Arriving at a simple but effective innovative mechanism to solve a critical problem by applying the ‘Theory of Prioritization’ concept of Design Thinking 

 

Details of the project –

During a deep sleep, since the throat muscles relax; it obstructs the airway. Air squeezing through the narrowed airway causes snoring. Snoring is one of the symptoms of OSA. Occasionally, the obstruction wakes the person up as they try to catch their breath.  

The scenario gets trickier if the person is an elderly patient. The existing solution available is a positive air pressure mask which is attached to a desktop unit. The patient has restricted movement during sleep and is always in the supine (sleeping position facing upwards) position. The device features a high-pressure air blower that maintains the airway open for unobstructed airflow, facilitating restful sleep. It’s the only therapeutic device that they will be using to get good sleep and maintain blood oxygen saturation.

Existing solution: Mask with positive pressure airflow(An indicative image)
 
 
An Anti-Pattern & further assumption –
 
A literature survey points out that even though patients suffer from OSA, the subjects discontinue the device after a few months or even days due to less compliance. The team assumed the discontinuation was only due to the restricted movement during sleep (because the patients are typically in supine positon). Hence initially the team proposed to go for a Hoseless design and replicate the functionalities from the existing method. So the team proposed to design a Hoseless mask to merely give freedom of movement.
 
Exploring more Patterns and Anti-Patterns through further research –
 
With a thought of hoseless design of mask in mind, the team tried to explore more insights through extensive research. They tried to understand the pattern and anti-patterns of the breathing process especially during the night. To arrive at precise patterns and anti-patterns, extensive surveys coupled with interactions with patients were conducted which helped the team to think about a totally unexplored area of ‘Air Pressure’. 

It turned out that the Air Pressure within the mask was almost constant throughout the breathing process. This was causing discomfort and not restricted movement. A pressure is set when the device is installed for the first time. But this set pressure is not comfortable after some days. The problem becomes grave if the patient develops a severe cold which naturally blocks the nose. 

So, the team decided to change the problem statement from ‘Giving Freedom of Movement’ to ‘Developing a Variable Air Pressure Mechanism’. And thus the ideation began, to achieve the task….

Testing the Novel Design prototype –

One of the ideas revolved around controlling the blower to arrive at a variable pressure delivery. The team observed a few initial breaths using a pressure sensor vis-a-vis developing a co-relation with the patient’s lung condition suitability. This became of paramount importance because it is critical for a patient to use a mask daily irrespective of the condition of the lungs. The team began to note breathing disruptions and monitor the respiratory rate to keep a check on the patient’s health condition.

Role of a humidifier –

Based on above prototype’s feedback, the team felt the need to keep the airway moistened during breathing. The team brainstormed and applied the Theory of Prioritization (one of the ‘3 Laws of Design Thinking©’) to add a small component named ‘ Humidifier’ in the proposed design of the mask.

Proposed new Design

Thus the team has incorporated the inputs and has designed the prototype of the Hoseless mask which will soon undergo clinical trials.

 

In conclusion –  It is important to ‘Ask the Right Questions’ to solve the ‘Correct Problem’. Dr.Jayanthi’s team were able to shift the focus dot from ‘Freedom of Movement’ to ‘Design Variable Pressure’  and thus were able to narrow down on the precise problem. This case study shows though it sounds simple, patterns and anti-patterns come handy in garnering customer-centric insights, to solve the ‘correct problem’.