Details
My own project done (part-time) during Internship at Laerdal Medical Health 2019/2020
Service, product and UI/UX design
In collaboration with Laerdal
Challenge
More than 350 000 cardiac arrests occur outside the hospital each year. Most of them happens in the home and some at public spaces. Regardless where they happen the victim is in need of early defibrillation within the first 5 minutes to increase the chances of survival. Today only one of 10 survive a sudden cardiac arrest outside hospital as not even half of all victims receives CPR by bystanders before professional help arrives. During a cardiac arrest the victim needs immediate CPR and defibrillation by using a public Automated External Defibrillator (AED), which can be found in public spaces. In order to be able to do these life saving actions people are participating CPR and AED courses. With the low rate of bystanders taking action during an accident like this I believe the CPR and AED training could be improved. This is what I explored at Laerdal Medical Health.
Concept
My result consisting of an AED trainer and phone app, is a new way of CPR and AED training where realism is key. As there are always more than one person in a real life rescue I believed the training should be in teams. Instead of the individually focused training used today, this new team based training, where the participants take turns acting different roles, will simulate a more realistic experience. The AED trainer is a shell without technique, but when the user places the phone (with the app active) inside it appears like any other AED. Usage of participants’ phones enables detailed scoring and possibility to customize and upgrade the product, and no maintenance is needed. The AED trainer is designed for easy transportation and easy usage. With its significantly low carbon footprint and low price it’s accessible for everyone, as we all have to practice our skills in order to save lives!
Sudden cardiac arrests is the largest cause of natural death in America
We have to train CPR and AED use in order to save lives
Cardiac arrest is a sudden loss of blood flow resulting from the failure of the heart to pump effectively.
Question formulation:
How might we improve the learning experience to prepare users to confidently & effectively use an AED during a cardiac arrest?
And how to design it as sustainable as possible?
Final solution video
- an AED & CPR training experience
Curious to know more about the project?
Continue further down to view my Research, Design thinking, Final concept and Learning outcome
Research
Research consisting of evaluations of AED trainers on the market, user interviews and CPR & AED course observations
Laerdal AED trainers
Laerdal Medical Health is a company doing a lot of different medical training products, for example AED trainers to learn people use an AED.
The main problem with the two AED trainers (trainer 2 and 3) that Laerdal sells today are that they are very big, heavy and too expensive for the customers.
“The Mini AED trainer is good as it’s cheap and easy to bring to courses, but it’s not realistic compared to the bigger and heavy ones, so we usually try to bring both”
//QualSafe
Identified problems - AED trainers
the course training experience today
The course flow of CPR & AED training today is focused on individual learning. The course starts with a quiz where the participants use their own phones to participate. After the training starts with the two CPR steps - compressions and ventilations - and how to combine them. The participants practise on manikins and get feedback from the instructor or from an app, if using any of the Laerdal QCPR training apps.
Afterwards the participants get introduced to an AED and how it works. All steps until the last part is done individually. The last part is a scenario training where all skills, both CPR and AED rescue, are combined. This part happens in groups of minimum two participants.
Identified problems - training experience
Throughout the course the participants use one manikin and one AED trainer for the training. Due to expensive accessories the participants have to share and take turns practising, which creates a lot of “dead/waiting time” for the participants.
Another problem with the training today is that there is no direct feedback when using the AED trainers. The QCPR feedback (showed on a phone or on the big screen) only gives feedback on the CPR action, it doesn’t sense the AED trainer, which gives the user a bad result when breaking the CPR action to use the AED.
This last part of the training is the most difficult and important and it’s a big problem that the user can’t get any valuable feedback during this part. To solve this was my main task, combined with sustainability thinking.
“The students like the scenario and role play training the most. They train almost all the time in groups of three”
//Mary, St Johns ambulance
The most valuable insight from my course observations was the importance of the group/scenario training part. This is a relatively short part which usually happens in the end of the course. During this part all participants were engaged and got to practise their skills in a roleplaying scenario. The participants also thought this was the most fun part.
What if the whole CPR & AED training could happen in teams, as there’re always more than one rescuer in a real life rescue scenario?
In a real life rescue scenario there will always be more than one person. No one is capable to do CPR, run and get an AED and call the emergency at the same time. Because of this I believe a team training would prepare the users for a real life rescue scenario in a better way, in order to save more lives.
My Vision
My vision was to create a training experience that would prepare users to confidently use an AED during a rescue. This training experience have to be fun and time efficient for the participants and simple for the instructors to proceed - not too many, too heavy or too expensive AED trainers to bring.
Overall I wanted to create a solution that shows a new, more sustainable way, of rescue training.
My Design thinking & process
Define problem
My design thinking is always centered around a problem. The problem is defined by a research, including interviews, observations, testing and market analyzing where I find the users’ needs. This is where I start and when the problem is defined I usually go back to the very beginning trying to think in new ways of solving the problem. In this project I went back all the way to a situation in real life when a cardiac arrest have occurred and some bystanders have to act immediately. What do they have to do, but what are they actually doing? And how to train people in order to act in the right way in these situations?
Everyone acts differently, but there must be a way of learning which prepares users in a better way. I believed realism could be the key! Why I wanted to simulate a training experience as realistic as possible. That would include a scenario training with all roles that would have been in a real life accident.
I started to explore my vision of team training using role playing with three different roles.
Ideate, prototype & test
I ideated within different topics, prototyped and tested different ideas.
Here in my portfolio I’m only showing one of many user testing sessions. This following one happened late in the process.
Could an already existing product - like a smart phone - be a good solution to make the product cheap and sustainable, but would it be realistic enough?
Here I tested if the phone screen should be visible during the AED training or hidden under buttons. A lot of user testing showed that if using the phone in the product people would also like to see and touch it.
How to design the AED trainer as sustainable as possible?
To design the AED as sustainable as possible I worked within 4 different areas; The use of the product, The design of it, The transportation and The materials it is made of.
When talking about sustainability I in first hand mean environmental sustainability. But social, economy and culture sustainability are also considered.
The use
For The Use I have been looking into the product journey, from manufacturing to its end of life, and tried to do a Life Cycle Assessment. To find the right footprint of the used materials and from production of the existing Laerdal AED trainers was almost impossible.
I quickly realized that the pads have a short life which could be improved! Therefore I tried to find a new solution and finally decided to use a washable and reusable silicone sticky pad.
New pad solution!
The design
Within the design area I have made a draft of an Analysis tool and a Sustainable Design Guide that will help designers at Laerdal to achieve a more environmental sustainable design. This work has also helped me to achieve a sustainable design of the AED trainer. Some of the areas presented in different chapters in the Design Guide and which I considered in my design are;
Life Time Model - where on the life time line is my product located?
Future proof - how to design the product to be future proof (if not an one-time-use product)?
Modularity & upgradability - how to upgrade the product?
Maintenance & disassembling - how can materials be easy disassembled?
Materials & packaging - how to design so packaging not is needed?
Social equity - working with socially & environmentally conscious suppliers?
Transportation
How to transport the AED trainer in a more sustainable way?
The solution is to design it as small, compact and as light weighted as possible without compromising too much on its functions. It can’t take up any unnecessary space.
My solution takes up approx. 60% less space and has 75% less weight compared to the existing AED trainer 2 which weight is at 1262g. My solution weights only 330g.
Material
I decided to use a more sustainable material compared to the ABS which is used in the existing Laerdal AED trainers. By using a recycled PP I could reduce the carbon footprint with 87% /kg material. The reduced CO2 emissions by changing from raw ABS to recycled PP is 3,12 kg CO2/kg material.
The ABS material of the existing AED trainer 2 has a footprint at 1,7 kg CO2e and that’s only the ABS. This product consists of more materials, batteries, technique etc. meaning that the totalt footprint is a lot higher. The recycled PP that I will use has a footprint at 0,1 kg CO2e, and as this solution doesn’t have any technique the total footprint will not be much higher.
The recycled PP material has the strength needed for its purpose and for making the product possible to recycle again after its use it will stay in its original grey recycling color.
Final concept
The AED Trainer 4 creates a new CPR & AED training experience
The concept consists of an AED trainer product and a team training application.
The course participant use their own smart phones for the training. The AED trainer is a shell and works by using the technique of the phone when the training app is started and displaying the AED interface.
Concept in use.
The benefits of AED trainer 4
Easy to bring to training venues
Feedback & detailed scoring
Works with all manikins
No maintenance needed
Upgradable
Customizable (ex. infant button can be added, fit all course structures)
Medium realistic level
Low carbon footprint
Cheap
Phone attachment
Materials
Recycled PP foil
A recycled PP foil with instructional graphics for the phone attachment is welded together with the bottom of the case. No separation of the foil is needed before recycling.
Scenario video
UI/UX DESIGN
The design of the app interface in AED-mode is inspired by real buttons, in order to make the AED trainer as realistic as possible. Each button has one design when turned off and another design when turned on. In between there’s also a design of the press-down of the button, which is a short sequence when clicking on the button. This combined with a click-sound creates a realistic, tactile experience for the user.
The instructor
The instructor controls the training session from a device, he/she controls…
When to start each session (roles are automatically divided)
Team set up (groups of 2 or 3 learners)
Beginner/advanced setup (ex. reminders or not)
The length of practise in each session
When ending course (all phones are automatically beeping to not be forgotten in the classroom)
the training team take turns practising with the 3 different roles
Starting scenario training
Team members connect with their phones to the same manikin.
the AED provider
The user taking the AED provider role need to prepare the AED before starting the training. This instruction video on the app shows how to place the phone at the bottom of the AED trainer.
The CPR provider
The CPR provider is the one starting the training when the team is ready. When holding the phone over the manikin a story of the accident is displayed on the screen. The next two steps are reminders of actions the user need to do. These reminders can be deleted by the instructor when training on a higher level. The last screen for the CPR provider shows the direct feedback (like today) when performing CPR.
The 113 Caller
The task of the caller is to dial the right emergency number and answer the questions from the emergency call operator (pre-recorded in the app). Speaker mode has do be activated in order to get the best scoring.
Debrief
After each training session there’s an individual debrief for each role and user, and also a team debrief (see to the right) where the whole team can see their performance. The debrief is shown on a timeline and the scoring from different training sessions can be compared.
Learning outcome
The design thinking and process of Laerdal
Improved research skills to find the user need, for example interviewing and observation skills
Improved skills in user testing and mock-up building
UX and UI design skills, learning Figma and Adobe XD
Interaction design - how to make a 2D screen express the feeling of 3D buttons
User guidance, onboarding
By having the sustainability focus through out the project I have also learned a lot about…
How to do a Life Cycle Assessment of a product
The life time model of a product
Sustainable design thinking principles
Different materials, recycling processes, performance etc.