Medical Product Innovator
The UroSeal
The UroSeal was created in the Creative Inquiry, Design with Docs, mentored by Dr. John DesJardins of Clemson University. The team was comprised of three undergrads, myself, Eva Caruso, Ajay Heera and Tushar Patel. We were tasked with teaming up with a clinician, conducting interviews and observations to discover pain points in their everyday routine. Kate Richardson, RN, of Greenville Health System was gracious enough to allow us to work with her over a year's course.
problem intro
Kate Richardson, RN, shared with us that she was seeking a solution to reduce the incidence of urinary tract infections in the hospital setting due to cross contamination of fecal matter into the urinary tract of female patients. She told us that this cross contamination is most common in bedridden patients where nurses are only required to check if they are soiled 1x/12 hours!
Must haves
Device must
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Not allow reflux of urine
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Must allow urine to exit freely from urethra but block solid waste from entering
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Incorporate urine collection bags
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Materials selection: No Latex because it is a common allergy
Ideation
Could we create a sectional diaper that would keep each of the wastes separate?
No, pressure sores are a major concern for bedridden patients.
Could we incorporate the idea of a female outdoor urination device?
Yes! This was the right shape to keep the patient comfortable and we could secure it to the patient using a glue used for high humidity and hair covered area, like a wig glue!
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Prototyping
For our initial diaper idea we constructed it from two different diapers and fastening them together, while our idea was shot down, Kate was impreessed with the design of the prototype!
Our next device idea we used Solidworks to develop our idea. When we brought the 3D printed model to Kate she noted that it should be more shapely to fit between legs. With this in mind we changed the geometry and wanted to add a feature to prevent collapsing.
Initial Solution Pitching
The current practice for using the bathroom for women that are not only immobile, but also women that have incontinence issues and cannot control the release of waste is not on par with current sanitation standards. The clean-up is difficult, requires management and takes a fair amount of time. Current practices do not prevent feces from reaching urinary tract. This increase the chances of acquiring urinary tract infection. Our device is designed to control the contamination of stool into the urinary tract, while allowing a patient that is either laying down or mobile to excrete their waste safely. This will reduce the cost of healthcare to the patients and also save nurse’s time.
Final Prototype Refinement
In the final prototype, we added slots on the lip of the device. This slots will be used to attach the device to the patient using a tape. This will be used along with glue. This will provide better fixation. We removed the fins from the device because we are going to be 3D printing this device with two materials with different hardness. The lip will be made out of a softer material while the rest of the device will be made out of a harder material which will prevent collapsing of the device under pressure.