Patient: Carla Tortelli
Age: 27
Ostomy Type: Ileostomy
Current Device: One-piece drainable bag
About: Active, financial considerations
Carla’s current ostomy bag leaks frequently, typically 2-3 days following installation
Financially incapable of purchasing bags of higher quality and durability
Prefers a discrete, low-profile bag to accommodate her preference for tight-fitting clothing
<aside> đź’ˇ Our Mission: Design a low-profile, cheap, and durable one-piece ostomy bag that is resistant to leaks and long-lasting.
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Once presented with our patient profile, our group immediately began discussing different ways to approach Carla’s problem. We decided we wanted our design to be as intuitive and simple as possible to ensure that we prioritize user interaction allowing Carla to continue her day-to-day life seamlessly. Additionally, while analyzing the profile we recognized that Carla did not seem to have any issues with her current appliance prior to the period it begins leaking, thus we decided to improve upon the current design rather than reinvent it. This recognition was the origin of the conception of the “Osto-Sticker”!
<aside> 🧠What I learned: Given information, one should look to read between the lines and find out all the given information through context clues despite not being explicitly defined
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Complete Osto-Sticker low-fidelity prototype with securing patches
In order to increase the duration of the adhesive effectiveness we thought of doubling the lifespan through the addition of a second adhesive that serves as an attachment to the original ostomy bag. In practice, the patient would simply need to unfold the attached layer once leaks occur to reveal the original adhesive layer brand new and unaffected by the leaks of the stoma.
One of the main difficulties my group and I faced during this project was visualizing the various ideas that we would suggest to one another. We adopted different strategies to help better explain one another’s ideas such as sketching and even using CAD, however, it wasn’t until we decided to create low-fidelity prototypes of all of our top contending ideas that we were able to come to an agreement on our final design.
<aside> 🧠What I learned: Creating several different physical prototypes is one of the best ways to truly understand the viability of a given design
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