Insights on Prototyping, Testing, and User Interactions - Development of a Chest for Resuscitation Mannequins

Abstract

This master's thesis describes the early-phase development of a chest for resuscitation mannequins.The thesis identifies challenges with current mannequins and describes product requirements derived from the needs of health-care personnel. Furthermore, conceptual prototypes have been built to test solution principles in order to fulfill these needs and requirements. A new chest is developed to increase the sense of realism in CPR training by realistic chest deformation and simulated rib fractures.

A user-centered design approach has been utilized in a wayfaring framework throughout the presented project. This has enabled a flexible development process with the ability to change directions often and quickly. Insights and findings in the prototyping for interactions are being presented and discussed. Using prototypes for learning and exploration has been of interest.

A proposed concept is realized through a prototype that has been evaluated by user-testing and by measuring applied force and obtained depth during compressions. This prototype has been evaluated to be a preferred alternative in terms of haptic sensation and realistic deformation. The conceptual prototype accommodates the uncertainty experienced with cardiac arrest patients by having adjustable chest stiffness and force threshold for simulated rib fractures. This enables greater variance in simulations, and a future use-case of this concept could be randomizing the mannequin chest characteristics.

The presented prototype is an early concept model, that visualize some of the potentials for a future product. The efficacy of the prototype functionality on CPR performance has not been resolved. Hence, this calls for future research and development. In order to realize this as a final product, design challenges and improvements have been brought to attention. The proposed concept is considered one solution of enabling realistic interaction and uncertainty to be included in simulation-based resuscitation training.