Output details
34 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
University of Huddersfield
21st Century Nursing Bag
The 21st Century Nursing Bag ensures hygiene is exported alongside community healthcare. Microbiology studies conducted by myself and National Health Service (East Riding Yorkshire) – the first of its kind in the UK – found that 33% of bags used by nurses in the community carried the MRSA bug. Some 55% of existing nursing bags were never cleaned even though diary analysis showed community nurses in the UK might visit up to 17 patients a day, mostly for wound care. Using ‘Lego Serious Play’ methodology, the design research set out to design a safer medical bag to reduce the transmission of MRSA in the community; to date no international standards presently exist to affect the selection of bags, materials or design. This project sponsored by EPSRC and NHS East Riding of Yorkshire led to creation of a nursing bag, a process that engaged NHS healthcare commissioners, service improvement managers, infection control specialists and neighbourhood care teams. An evidence-based approach involved multi-centre service evaluations, link analysis of medical procedures, microbiological analysis of bags used in practice and design focus groups with stakeholders to optimise performance requirements. I achieved the objective through design innovation: optimising cleaning performances through design, minimising bacteria traps through component reduction and the introduction a modular system. The significance of the research outcomes is recognised by design and clinical communities throughout the world, which include Department of Health High Impact innovation; NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement and Kasier Permenente. The intellectual property is protected by both EU (EU11185488.1) and USA (13/253723) patents, with the bag set to become commercially available in 2014, where upon it will be issued as a standardised bag to every community nurse across the NHS Yorkshire and Humber region.