The Orthopedic Saw/Drill is a redesign project based off of what currently exists and what is being used in the field today. In this project I had the luxury to visit a cadaver lab and study surgeries to better understand the design, use, and environment of an orthopedic saw/drill.
The Orthopedic Saw/Drill was a re-design project that was inspired by my internship at Philips Healthcare. Here I able to interview surgeons, nurses, and other personnel that assist during these intense orthopedic surgeries. I was able to see demonstrations of the various tools and several orthopedic surgeries giving
me a better understanding of how the surgeons, nurses, and other personnel work together. I was able to also witness demonstrations of the various tools in a cadaver lab and take the specs of the tools to better understand and design the orthopedic saw/drill that you see here.
I had the pleasure to visit a cadaver lab
called Spine Frontier and a teaching hospital both located in Boston,MA. I watched surgeries being preformed and took specs of the tools.
Surgical Nurse: Secondary User. Responsible for Prep, Assembly, Sterilization, Clean up.
Lead Surgeon: Primary User. Responsible for using the tool and requesting which attachment they will need.
Surgical Intern: Primary User. Responsible for handling tools under supervision of lead surgeon and for clean up.
Anesthesiologist: Secondary User. Responsible for the patient. Uses only monitors and machine for oxygen. Doesn't handle power tools.
The hand to weight ratio was not balanced. The ergonomics of the tool made it a challenge to maneuver, and to keep it sterile they put it in a zip lock bag device which makes it difficult to grip.
After the visits to Spine Frontier and the teaching hospital in Boston. I began sketching and showed ten different sketch concepts to the surgeons and nurses that I had interviewed.
I developed prototypes of the designs they had approved in order to further flush out the ergonomics and size.
Common material used in the field. Light weight and strong.
Color to indicate touch points
