Ideation Process
Project name: Wound Healing System Development
Project timeline:
Dec - Research and design brainstorming
Jan - Feb - Detailed design/prototype
March - Primary design testing
April - Redesign and device improvement
Project team:
Cary Berdy:
Ian Sando:
cary.s.berdy@vanderbilt.edu
ian.c.sando@vanderbilt.edu
Melissa Kopacz:
Marybeth Jewell:
melissa.a.kopacz@vanderbilt.edu
marybeth.m.jewell@vanderbilt.edu
Innovation Situation Questionnaire
Brief description of the situation
The wound healing system needs to apply negative pressure to the wound so that the
wound is ensured to heal from the bottom up. Optimal negative pressure will not only
remove infectious material, so as to decrease the chances of forming an abcissa, but it
will ensure a speedy wound closure without further damage to the tissue. The device
promotes granulation tissue formation through the promotion of wound healing, and
uniformly draws wounds closed by applying controlled, localized negative pressure.
Most importantly, the device is to be more cost effective than those of the competitors.
Detailed description of the situation
Supersystem - System – Subsystems:
System name:
Vacuum Assisted Closure (V.A.C.) Therapy.
System structure:
The device should consist of:
large canister
adhesive V.A.C. drape
V.A.C. Y-connector
versatile, micro-porous, polyvinyle alchohol foam dressing
catheter tubing
Vacuum system
Supersystems and environment:
Home or hosiptal environment
Should be kept sterile
Applied to open wounds
Medium humidity/ room temp
Near other electrical appliances
High pressure area
Fragile skin
Infectious material
Systems with similar problems:
This device maybe applied to a variety of wounds:
- Chronic open wounds (diabetic and pressure ulcers)
- Acute and traumatic wounds
- Meshed grafts
- Subacute wounds (i.e. dehisced incisions)
- Flaps
- Burns
There is only one such system on the market that applied negative pressure to assist in
wound closure.
An analogy to this system is the space bag that applies negative pressure to remove air
from storage bags so that the bags will collapse to a smaller size.
Input - Process – Output:
Functioning of the system:
The foam dressing is placed into the wound. One end of the tube is connected to the
foam, the other end to a canister that connects to the V.A.C. control unit. The wound area
is sealed with the clear V.A.C. drape. The V.A.C. system pulls infectious materials and
other fluids from the wound through the tube and collects them inside the canister. The
system provides a moist wound-healing environment that hastens wound closure and
proper healing without infection.
System inputs:
- wound
- electric power
- negative pressure
System outputs:
- noise
- fast wound closure
- infectious material
- abscissa prevention
- environmentally safe
Cause - Problem – Effect:
- immediate causes: wound trauma which causes excessive bleeding. May lead to
infection. Pain/discomfort.
- wounds can be inflicted by a variety ways
Problem to be resolved:
- closure of wound
- remove blood or serous fluid from a wound or operation site
Mechanism causing the problem:
- trauma
- infectious material
Undesirable consequences if the problem is not resolved:
- infection
- long hospital stay/ recovery
- amputation of limb
- prolonged bleeding
- abscissa
Other problems to be solved:
- wound sterilization
- eliminate serous buildup
- close wound from bottom up
Past - Present – Future:
History of the problem:
N/A
Pre-process time:
December break: study, investigate, and observe a KIC vacuum therapy device
determine costs of manufacture and materials
Post-process time:
April: System improvement
Hopefully we will be able to design a more cost effective device that will reduce costs
for patients and hospitals when implementing V.A.C. therapy.
Resources, constraints and limitations:
Available resources:
- foam
- plastic
- rubber
- air
- Grant funding
- Pre-existing V.A.C. devices
- Sponsor and medical staff
Allowable changes to the system:
- drastic changes in design are allowed
- alteration of negative pressure
- material changes to minimize costs
- extra catheter tubing is allowed
Constraints and limitations:
- financial limitations
- must explore the constraits of V.A.C. therapy theory to explore cost minimization for
a competitive design
- healing efficiency should be maximized
- safety to patient and operator cannot be lessened
Criteria for selecting solution concepts:
-at least 90% as effective as current devices
-much less expensive
-biologically safe
- FDA approval
Problem Formulation and Brainstorming:
Diagram 1:
Power Loss
Expensive
Wound Healing
System
Development
Cheaper Material
Wound Closure
Sutures
Removes
infectious material
Clogging of the
Device
Wound Healing System Development produces Wound Closure and Removes
infectious material counteracts Power Loss and Clogging of the Device produces
Expensive.
Wound Closure produces Sutures is produced by Wound Healing System
Development.
Removes infectious material is produced by Wound Healing System Development.
Power Loss.
Clogging of the Device.
Expensive is produced by Wound Healing System Development.
Sutures is produced by Wound Closure.
Cheaper Material is counteracted by Expensive.
References
http://www.kci1.com/products/vac/vac/index.asp
http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:GuzsoyZXpbQJ:www.health.gov.on.ca/englis/pro
viders/program/mas/reviews/docs/recommend_vac_121604.pdf+V.A.C.+Therapy+costs
&hl=en
http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:STFs2zxPvUJ:www.plasticsurgery.org/PSF/PSFH
OME/educate/abstracts/Wednesday/B/10571103.htm+V.A.C.+Therapy+ costs&hl=en
http://www.nursing.uiowa.edu/sites/chronicwound/index.htm