{"id":477,"date":"2017-04-06T12:31:00","date_gmt":"2017-04-06T12:31:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/systemsthinker.eu\/?p=477"},"modified":"2025-12-31T14:01:59","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T14:01:59","slug":"nurseproof","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/systemsthinker.eu\/index.php\/2017\/04\/06\/nurseproof\/","title":{"rendered":"Nurseproof"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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I read an article about an incident at a hospital where it said: \u2018 through inattentiveness by nurses \u2026\u2019 they were able to connect the wrong valve. Even thought there were \u2018clear identifiable differences\u2019. They made the valves \u2018nurseproof\u2019 (Imming, 2014).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I sometimes hear the term nurseproof used in the same way as foolproof, because nurses are able to break anything, push the wrong buttons, connect plugs the wrong way or even break them. Maybe the results are the same, but I think there is an important difference between nurseproof and foolproof.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So what is nurseproof? In a book by Higgs it says: \u201cNothing is nurse-proof, and if it can be broken, it will be.\u201d Another explanation is in a book on integral product development (Buijs, 2005): \u201cMedical personnel are generally careless with equipment, because the patient comes first.\u201d. And some designers forget that the focus of the nurse is not on their product, but the patient attached to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes designer, you! I\u2019m talking about you, watching that beautiful 3D-drawing on the screen and enjoying the geometric shapes of the design. Are you getting highly enthusiastic of your round 4-pins plug that goes in the machine? Feeling aroused by the perfect proportions of the embossed arrow on it, that points to the dot on the machine, so it\u2019s clear for everyone how to use it? Shall I tell you why it sucks?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because at night, when most technical personnel is gone, the battery starts protesting. And a nurse is wondering why that specific medical product isn\u2019t charging even though it\u2019s still plugged in. Checking the line, with a patient in bed watching, wondering what the problem is. And after searching and pulling, while her patient is getting annoyed so late at night, she finds the beautifully designed arrow and dot not being aligned. Another health care worker has rotated the plug 90 degrees. Just because it can be done. Just maybe because the lights were dim and arrows and dots are not visible then?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interesting is also the information on the screen of this product. When it is not plugged in, it doesn\u2019t specifically show that, until the battery is empty. When the product is plugged in and charging, it\u2019s showing with an icon. So to know it isn\u2019t charging, you need to see it charging? The solution is not RTFM, this is designing for nurses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So when nurses aren\u2019t paying attention to your product, it\u2019s not because they don\u2019t bother. It\u2019s just because they care!<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Buijs, J. A., & Valkenburg, A. C. (2005). Integrale productontwikkeling. Boom Koninklijke Uitgevers.
Higgs, J. (2014). Health Practice Relationships. In Health Practice Relationships (pp. 3-8). SensePublishers.
Imming, H. (2014, 3 3). De i-Valve, nurseproof luchtflowmeter beveiliging. Retrieved from MT Integraal: http:\/\/www.mtintegraal.nl\/artikelen\/178\/de-i-valve-nurseproof-luchtflowmeter-beveiliging<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Posted on April 6, 2017 on ‘Design for Nurses’-blog<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I read an article about an incident at a hospital where it said: \u2018 through inattentiveness by nurses \u2026\u2019 they were able to connect the wrong valve. Even thought there were \u2018clear identifiable differences\u2019. They made the valves \u2018nurseproof\u2019 (Imming, 2014). I sometimes hear the term nurseproof used in the same way as foolproof, because… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":506,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17,16],"tags":[23,7,8,13],"class_list":["post-477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-healthcare","category-technology","tag-design-for-nurses","tag-health-technology","tag-my-experience","tag-nurses"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/systemsthinker.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/systemsthinker.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/systemsthinker.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/systemsthinker.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/systemsthinker.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=477"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/systemsthinker.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":505,"href":"https:\/\/systemsthinker.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477\/revisions\/505"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/systemsthinker.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/systemsthinker.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/systemsthinker.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/systemsthinker.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}