New Blood Entry — Personal Patient Pack (PPP)

Problem:
Single Use Devices used on a patient are placed in the clinical waste bin immediately and new devices are used upon arrival at A&E as well as on the ward. How might we balance the needs of emergency medical care systems by aiming to reduce the volume of waste?

Process:
We contacted healthcare professionals in the NHS & HSE sector who provided invaluable information on our concepts. Through research, we realised that the sustainability of a multidimensional system could not be approached by designing a single product. We had to design a product - service system. This required an adaptation of systems already in place in the healthcare sector such as the laundry and recycling systems and the development of new ones e.g. the digital patient records.

Solution:
On average our product has the potential to reduce waste by approximately 67% per patient. This circular solution allows devices to be reused on the patient throughout their care. The RFID Technology reassures healthcare professionals that the devices stay with the patient and provide complete traceability at all times.