Output details

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.