BME.12 – Developing an Assessment Tool for Adhesive Barrier Application

• Mariah Flores
• Rana Hasan
• Karla Kalingo
• Nancy Sahagun
• Renee Villagracia

An ostomy is a surgical procedure that involves the creation of an opening, called a stoma, on the abdomen of a patient to facilitate the discharge of bodily wastes. The waste is collected through an attached external pouching system, which usually leads to significant lifestyle changes for the patient. Having an ostomy comes with physical and emotional difficulties. Physical difficulties can include the leakage of waste and skin irritations due to incorrect use and/or faulty manufacturing designs of pouches. Accompanied with this, emotional challenges can often arise, such as feelings of shame and social embarrassment. The presence of these issues call for a need for engineers to create ostomy pouch design considerations that are empathetic towards the ostomate’s challenges. To foster this needed empathy, the team created a wearable device that allows engineers to experience what ostomates feel when applying a pouch given their different physical limitations. The wearable device allows the wearer to change their waist size in various ranges and simulate weight gain, all while challenging them to apply an ostomy pouch on the simulated stoma. Through this, the team aims to allow engineers to empathize with ostomates by mimicking their experiences and difficulties. With this newfound empathy, the team’s product aims to encourage engineers to create ostomy product design considerations that directly address the experiences and problems felt through the wearable device. Future design considerations for the team’s wearable device include the incorporation of simulated stool to add more tactile experiences for the wearer, and the optimization of the air and water pumps to provide a more accurate representation of abdominal distension.