Development of a Connected Sensor System in Colorectal Surgery: User-Centered Design Case Study

Christel Schwartz-Lasfargues; Camille Roux-Gendron; Pim Edomskis; Isabelle Marque; Yves Bayon; Johan F Lange; Jean Luc Faucheron; Bertrand Trilling

doi:10.2196/31529

Development of a Connected Sensor System in Colorectal Surgery: User-Centered Design Case Study

JMIR Hum Factors. 2022 Jul 8;9(3):e31529. doi: 10.2196/31529.

Authors

Christel Schwartz-Lasfargues^{1

2}, Camille Roux-Gendron³, Pim Edomskis⁴, Isabelle Marque^{1

2}, Yves Bayon⁵, Johan F Lange⁴, Jean Luc Faucheron^{6

7}, Bertrand Trilling^{6

7}

Affiliations

¹ Public Health Department, CHU Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France.
² Inserm CIC 1406, Université Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France.
³ Floralis, Grenoble Alps University, Grenoble, France.
⁴ Department of Surgery, Erasmus Medical Centre, Rotterdam, Netherlands.
⁵ Medtronic - Sofradim Production, Trevoux, France.
⁶ Colorectal Surgery Unit, Visceral Surgery and Acute Care Surgery Department, CHU Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France.
⁷ TIMC, Université Grenoble Alpes, Centre National de Recherche Scientifique, Grenoble INP, Grenoble, France.

PMID: 35802406
PMCID: PMC9308077
DOI: 10.2196/31529

Abstract

Background: A successful innovative medical device is not only technically challenging to develop but must also be readily usable to be integrated into health care professionals' daily practice. Through a user-centered design (UCD) approach, usability can be improved. However, this type of approach is not widely implemented from the early stages of medical device development.

Objective: The case study presented here shows how UCD may be applied at the very early stage of the design of a disruptive medical device used in a complex hospital environment, while no functional device is available yet. The device under study is a connected sensor system to detect colorectal anastomotic leakage, the most detrimental complication following colorectal surgery, which has a high medical cost. We also aimed to provide usability guidelines for the initial design of other innovative medical devices.

Methods: UCD was implemented by actively involving health care professionals and all the industrial partners of the project. The methodology was conducted in 2 European hospitals: Grenoble-Alpes University Hospital (France) and Erasmus Medical Center Rotterdam (the Netherlands). A total of 6 elective colorectal procedures and 5 ward shifts were observed. In total, 4 workshops were conducted with project partners and clinicians. A formative evaluation was performed based on 5 usability tests using nonfunctional prototype systems. The case study was completed within 12 months.

Results: Functional specifications were defined for the various components of the medical device: device weight, size, design, device attachment, and display module. These specifications consider the future integration of the medical device into current clinical practice (for use in an operating room and patient follow-up inside the hospital) and interactions between surgeons, nurses, nurse assistants, and patients. By avoiding irrelevant technical development, this approach helps to promote cost-effective design.

Conclusions: This paper presents the successful deployment over 12 months of a UCD methodology for the design of an innovative medical device during its early development phase. To help in reusing this methodology to design other innovative medical devices, we suggested best practices based on this case.

Keywords: Internet of Things; IoT; colorectal anastomotic leakage; colorectal surgery; formative evaluation; innovation; medical device; mobile phone; usability; user-centered design.

©Christel Schwartz-Lasfargues, Camille Roux-Gendron, Pim Edomskis, Isabelle Marque, Yves Bayon, Johan F Lange, Jean Luc Faucheron, Bertrand Trilling. Originally published in JMIR Human Factors (https://humanfactors.jmir.org), 08.07.2022.