IntuiTap Vertouch
Eliminating the guesswork from spinal procedures
Client
IntuiTap
Project
VerTouch Industrial Design + Ergonomics Development
Services Provided
Ergonomic Research
Concept Sketching
Physical Model Making
3d CAD Surfacing
3d Printing Services
The VerTouch employs novel imaging technology to allow for vertebral detection analogous to palpation. Anatomy is displayed in real-time for accurate, efficient, and consistent identification of an insertion site. The device and included marker can then be used to mark the site for procedure completion. VerTouch can be safely used in the sterile field.
The VerTouch is designed to prevent inaccurate needle placement and decrease the likelihood of complications from multiple inaccurate injections, improper placement and injection of a drug, and contaminated fluid samples rendering them useless for diagnosis.
The design development process began by identifying the challenges present in the VerTouch proof-of-concept engineering model. The areas of focus were in how the unit could be held steady against a patient’s spine and how to make the interaction more familiar to hospital staff and doctors.
After a series of quick low-fidelity mockups were created and tested, a few important trends were discovered in how best to frame the VerTouch’s usability:
The angle of the handle must be such that it can be held comfortably when a patient is both sitting upright and lying on their side
The handle must have a little distance as possible from the patient’s back for more stable grip, yet must have enough space for many hand sizes
The point at which the handle intersects with the rest of the device greatly influences how much force can be applied to keep the device stable
In the second round of low-fidelity mockups, these discoveries were integrated into modified designs and further tested on their performance on a medical torso. Handle Grip 2 ended up providing the best performance and was the basis of the next phase of development.
In developing the aesthetics of the VerTouch device, it was crucial to achieve a look that communicated it was simple and easy-to-clean in a hospital setting while visually communicating its novel functionality to a first-time user.
