IDEO Volunteer Colleen Cotter on the Nepal Field Study
Colleen Cotter is a human centered designer at IDEO, focused on designing products and experiences for children and families. Her product design footprint spans an array of industries: educational, medical, consumer products, food and beverages, and toys. Colleen volunteered her vacation time to mentor the Stanford students during their research trip to Nepal.
We’ve just returned from a whirlwind immersion into Nepali neonatal care.
The overall goal of our project is to develop a low-cost incubator and isolation unit for infant care in developing countries. We began by focusing this exploration on the needs and constraints of Nepal, with the intention of later broadening our reach to neonatal care units all over the world.
In order to truly understand the extraordinary needs of Nepal, it was critical for us to perform our research in context. By visiting Nepal, we quickly gained direct exposure to many factors that will influence the look, feel, and function of our prototype.
In three days, we visited six hospitals (both urban and rural), meeting with dozens of inspirational stakeholders including directors, doctors, nurses, parents, and technicians. We experienced first hand the incredible barriers neonatal units face, ranging from the varied standards of cleanliness to the struggling Nepali infrastructure for health care. We met with one doctor who serves as the sole physician for an entire region of Nepal, the director of the hospital, as well as the maintenance man for all hospital equipment.
In physically transporting ourselves around Nepal, we came to understand how challenging it is for patients to access health care, and for health care workers to access needed resources. The rural communities are at an especially high risk and pose unique challenges that affect the design of the prototype.
Our experiences highlighted both constraints and opportunities for our project. While in Nepal, the team applied a design filter, translating most observed struggles into design challenges. With each struggle, the team members asked themselves, how might we make this experience better?
By taking the time to observe in a NICU for several hours the team gained insights into how nurses interact with their patients, equipment, and space. Over time, many opportunities for improvement became obvious and the team was naturally brainstorming solutions. Easier access to the infant and clearer communication between alarms and nursing staff surfaced as critical issues to explore.
I’m enormously proud of the efforts put forth by this talented team. The team is currently working to translate our insights into innovative incubator prototypes. Stay tuned!
Dr. Sikarmi Dahal at the Sindupalchowk District Hospital in Chautara, near the Tibetan border. How can we make his job easier?
Alex, Colleen and the nursing staff at the Sindupalchowk District Hospital in Chautara, near the Tibetan border.
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