Keywords: Medical device design, ecodesign, deisgn for sustainability, industrial design
Host: © Royal College of Art
Funded by:Royal College of Art
Role: Thesis, Master of Philosophy, Design Research
Supervised by: Professor Stephen Jia Wang, Professor Saeema Ahmed-Kristensen
In 2019, medical equipment procured by the National Health Service (NHS) accounted for about 10% of the total emissions from the NHS. While single-use devices are responsible for rising quantities of medical waste and inventory costs for hospitals, reused devices tend to get involved in cases of reinfection and are more expensive to develop for manufacturers. Beyond the benefits and risks of single-use and reusable devices, the imperative for a less wasteful healthcare system in the United Kingdom lies in the Climate Change Act, which mandates the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 80% from the 1990 baseline.
The design of medical devices accounts for many of the environmental impacts that occur at the various stages of their lifecycles. Eco-effective design is an alternative strategy for preventing waste and maximizing the value of resources used due to the rising pressures from regulatory authorities to reduce environmental impact, and the rising costs of pursuing a take-make-dispose culture, as has been observed in industries such as the automotive sector, electronics sector, textiles and consumer products sector. Yet its application in the medical device industry has not been significantly explored. This project identifies the barriers and opportunities for eco-effective design of medical devices, and proposes the principles of eco-effective design of medical devices, providing an approach for integrating eco-effective design strategies in the design process.
The project involved literature reviews to identify barriers to eco-design of medical devices, design of an eco-effective design framework for medical devices and face validation interviews with designers. The project contributes to interdisciplinary knowledge across medical device design, design for sustainability and medical device regulatory policy.
Arun Kumar, P. (2021). Regulating Environmental Impact of Medical Devices in the United Kingdom - A Scoping Review. Prosthesis 3(4), pp. 370–387. EISSN 2673-1592. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/prosthesis3040033
Arun Kumar P., Wang S.J. (2021). The Design Intervention Opportunities to Reduce Procedural-Caused Healthcare Waste Under the Industry 4.0 Context – A Scoping Review. In: Brooks A., Brooks E.I., Jonathan D. (eds) Interactivity and Game Creation. ArtsIT 2020. Lecture Notes of the Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering, vol 367. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-73426-8_27
Arun Kumar, P. (2020). EcoDesign for medical devices: Barriers and opportunities to eco effective design of medical devices, (MPhil thesis) Royal College of Art, London, UK. Retrieved from https://researchonline.rca.ac.uk/4467
Kumar, P. A., & Wang, S. J. (2019). Encouraging DfE in Design Education to promote Sustainable Medical Product Design. Designing Sustainability for All, 4, 1354–1359. http://lensconference3.org/index.php/program/posters/item/79-encouraging-dfe-in-design-education-to-promote-sustainable-medical-product-design
Arun Kumar, P. (2020). Design for Sustainable Healthcare – Making sense of wicked-wicked problems [Video]. Ontario College of Art and Design, Toronto Nov. 2020. Retrieved from: https://vimeo.com/548603163