Design Concepts is pleased to announce that the ARKON Anesthesia Delivery System, developed for Spacelabs Healthcare, has been selected as a finalist in the Critical-Care and Emergency Medicine Products category of the 17th Annual Medical Design Excellence Awards competition.
MADISON, WIS (May 21, 2014)—Design Concepts is pleased to announce that the ARKON Anesthesia Delivery System, developed for Spacelabs Healthcare, has been selected as a finalist in the Critical-Care and Emergency Medicine Products category of the 17th Annual Medical Design Excellence Awards competition. Finalists were officially announced in the April Issue of MD+DI (Medical Device and Diagnostic Industry)magazine. Winners will be announced at the 2014 MDEA Ceremony held Wednesday, June 11, 2014 in conjunction with the MD&M East event at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York.
Design Concepts worked with Spacelabs Healthcare to research and design the first anesthesia delivery system that allows the anesthesiologist to view their patient and system controls simultaneously during gas delivery. ARKON is used in an operating room setting by anesthesiologists during perioperative care.
The MDEA is the medtech industry’s premier design competition committed to searching worldwide for the highest caliber finished medical devices, products, systems, or packaging available on the market. The awards program celebrates the achievements of the medical device manufacturers, their suppliers, and the many people behind the scenes—engineers, scientists, designers, and clinicians—who are responsible for the cutting-edge products that are saving lives; improving patient healthcare; and transforming medtech—one innovation at a time.
“The AKRON system design resulted from decades of experience combined with months of intensive observational research and interviews with clinical staff from around the world,” said Dave Franchino, president and principal of Design Concepts. “This extensive ethnographic user research helped to determine the latest trends and practices in anesthesiology workflow, unmet needs and desires, and set the foundation for the development process. The design concepts were guided by human factors/ergonomic principles to maximize patient care effectiveness, user comfort, and operational efficiency. Taking into account all of these considerations presented several technological challenges that were elegantly resolved in the design of the ARKON anesthesia delivery system.”
Entries are judged by an impartial panel of medtech experts. Unlike other design competitions that are merely styling contests, the MDEA jury is comprised of a balance of practicing doctors, nurses, and technicians alongside industrial designers, engineers, manufacturers, and human factors experts. MDEA jurors comprehensively review entries based on the following criteria: the ability of the product development team to overcome all challenges so the product meets its clinical objectives; innovative use of materials, components, and processes; user-related functions improving healthcare delivery and changing traditional medical attitudes or practices; features providing enhanced benefits to the patient and end-user in relation to clinical efficacy; manufacturing cost-effectiveness and profitability; and healthcare system benefits such as improved accessibility, efficacy, or safety, in addition to providing attention to a critical unmet clinical need.
The 2014 MDEA Juror Panel selected 54 exceptional finalists in 11 medical technology product categories.Selected products excel in 5 areas: manufacturing and technological innovation; design and engineering advancements; patient benefits; business benefits; and overall improvement to healthcare industry.
“We are honored that our product development contributions to ARKON have received recognition in this premier awards program,” said Rainer Schnabel, director of new product development and principal of Design Concepts.
“Thank you to Spacelabs Healthcare for giving us this incredible opportunity to work with them, and the MDEA program, for recognizing our efforts.”
Winners will be announced on Wednesday, June 11, 2014 at MD&M East’s main networking event—the 2014 Medical Design Excellence Awards ceremony. MD+DI will recognize the finalists and announce the Bronze, Silver, and Gold winners in each of the 11 medtech categories, as well as present the Readers’ Choice, Best-In-Show, Lifetime Achievement Awards, and more! RSVP during your MD&M East registration to reserve your ticket. Admission is FREE but donations are encouraged to benefit NCIIA’s BMEidea, a design competition for biomedical engineering university students whose winners will also be announced at the ceremony.
For the latest news, tweets, videos, and info about #MDEA14 finalists and winner follow MD+DI on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, and www.MDEAwards.com.
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Founded in 1967, Design Concepts is a full-service product design and innovation consulting company based in Madison, Wis., and San Francisco. With research, design, engineering and prototyping capabilities, Design Concepts helps companies address a challenge or business opportunity with evocative, grounded and actionable solutions. For more information, visit design-concepts.com.
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