INCORPORATING THE NEEDS OF USERS INTO POINT-OF-CARE DIAGNOSTICS
Jaqueline Linnes, Purdue University, USA

Workshop Description:
Microfluidic point-of-care diagnostics are poised to reshape the delivery of healthcare systems in both high-resource and resource limited settings. However, translation of these technologies out the research lab and into instruments that are usable in clinical and field settings, requires design of robust devices that provide simple user interfaces and sample-to-answer detection. No matter how sensitive or specific a point-of-care diagnostic is, if users are frustrated by the device (e.g. the results of a colorimetric test are too subtle to interpret, the steps are too complicated to follow) or the device is difficult to fit into the clinical workflow (e.g., the time for the test is significantly longer than the average provider visit), it will have trouble achieving widespread use and competing devices with poorer technical performance but better user-design may be adopted instead. In this workshop, we will provide a Human Centered Design framework with which to design and evaluate devices. The goal of this workshop is to provide both an overview and practical experience so that participants can design and develop translational technologies with the maximum impact.

Overview of Material to Be Covered and What Attendees Can Expect to Take Away From the Workshop:
In the first half of the workshop, participants will learn how to develop field-ready prototypes for usability studies and will work through case studies of device prototype evaluations in the field. In the second part of the workshop, participants will gain hands on experience creating a mock device prototype and developing a product hypothesis by defining potential users, their needs, and the critical assumptions that they have made about the context of device operation. They will then take part in role playing to engage with each other as potential users of the device and finally synthesize this information into a new hypothesis with changes to the device design and use.

Who Should Attend:
This workshop is designed for researchers, students, entrepreneurs and others interested in translating their laboratory research and technologies to provide these to a wider user base in both field and clinical settings.