Creating a Better Protective Suit Against Ebola
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www.bigstudioconsulting.com 1 Broadway. 14th floor Cambridge MA 02142 [email protected] Workshop in Washington D.C. attended by Big Studio Creating a Better Protective Suit Against Ebola
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Transcript of Creating a Better Protective Suit Against Ebola
www.bigstudioconsulting.com1 Broadway. 14th floorCambridge MA [email protected]
Workshop in Washington D.C. attended by Big Studio
Creating a Better ProtectiveSuit Against Ebola
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About theIssue
The 2014 West African Ebola Outbreak and the U.SGovernment Response: An Opportunity for Design Thinking
At the beginning of 2014, an outbreak of Ebola spread fromGuinea, in West Africa, to Liberia and Sierra Leone. Smalleroutbreaks also appeared in Mali, Senegal, and Nigeria. As ofDecember 16, 2014, affected countries reported a combined totalof 7,347 deaths due to the outbreak.
In September, 2014, Médecins Sans Frontières, the primary NGOin the region tasked with helping those affected by the outbreak,warned that they would fail to contain the illness’s spread withoutsignificant assistance from the world’s industrialized nations. Laterthat month, President Obama declared the outbreak a top priorityfor the federal government, and by October the administrationconvened the Grand Challenge to Fight Ebola, inviting innovatorsfrom all fields to come together to help stop Ebola's spread.
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About theChallenge
A Workshop to Improve PPEs
A version of the PPE worn by healthcare workers in West Africa
Experts on health care delivery in WestAfrica identified the drawbacks of thePersonal Protective Equipment, or PPE,worn by health care workers as a barrierto effective health care delivery andimproving health care outcomes for Ebolapatients.
On October 10-11, 2014, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) organized a workshop bringing together a diverse group of professionals to redesign the PPE.
Day One OverviewThe workshop employed a design-thinking strategy to find an innovative new design for a PPE.
• Officials from the Centers for Disease Control and doctors from Médecins Sans Frontières, recently returned from the field, educated the attendees on ebola, treatment methods, and the process for putting on and removing the personal protective equipment.
• Shifting teams moved from brainstorming possible solutions to prototyping
Introductions& Education
Brainstorming &Prioritizing
Prototype Solutionsfrom Morning
Presentationof Prototypes
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Big Studio’s Adam Hasler models aclassic version of a PPE
MORNING AFTERNOON
Afternoon PrototypingBreakout teams built simple demonstrations of the solutions pitched during the morning session.
Above: a breakout team deconstructs versions of existing designs of PPEs in order to make improvements. Suit manufacturers provided the PPEs with the intent of bringing the new designs into production within weeks of the workshop.
Left: A breakout team membermodeling a PPE with designimprovements. Team membersremoved elastic from the ends ofthe sleeves and legs, added anextra layer of fabric to go overthe boot, and reconfigured thesuit to open from the backinstead of the front, therebyeliminating the need for anapron and thus additional layersof clothing that caused wearersof the suits to overheat. Lastly,team members began the earlydevelopment of a new zipper, asthey had found that smallzippers were difficult to grabwhile wearing layers of gloves.
Day Two OverviewThe workshop changed venues for the second day, and took place at TechShop, a makerspace equipped with an endless variety of tools for fabrication.
• Officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Workshop participants created working prototypes of ideas developed and refined the day before, from redesigned head gear, ventilation systems, and a cooling apparatus, and used various tools, from sewing machines to create a new design of PPE suit to 3D printers to create a new plastic pull tab for zippers.
• Hosting the second day of the event at the makerspace allowed many of those who had never employed innovation techniques or design thinking in their professional life the opportunity to get hands on, iterate, and create tangible solutions
A workshop participant from the World Bank,left, discusses suit manufacturing techniques and design constraints with the head of research and development from a PPE manufacturer. Adam Hasler from Big Studio worked closely with these two and a designer from design and consulting firm IDEO to fabricate a new suit using designs developed the day before.
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Key Takeaways
• The approach of the Grand Challenge, which included not only the workshop but an online platform powered by OpenIDEO indicates a growing appreciation on the part of the federal government, as well as established businesses and NGOs, of the importance of process in developing and deploying solutions to urgent problems.
• The mix of professionals made up of those experienced in design thinking and innovation strategy and those with deep, domain specific knowledge and expertise elicited great results. The process of learning from each other was not only enjoyable, but very productive and led to great results.
• The decision of the organizers of the workshop to involved PPE manufacturers cannot be understated. Participants in the workshop all felt an added sense of purpose in their work, knowing that their design would likely make it into the field within weeks.
• There’s tremendous potential in this approach for future challenges of all kinds.
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