1. The Problem
I was watching series with my wife, the series we were watching is "The Good Doctor". In the chapter where we were, a female doctor was doing a very complicated surgery, she said she was not feeling well emotionally and could not continue and passed the tools to another doctor.
I commented to my wife that how difficult it was to achieve great precision with the pressure of having a life in their hands, and I also noticed that the female doctor did not completely fill the holes of the scissors while the male doctor did. THAT'S where I wondered if the object interface also affected the doctors' performance. And so this investigation began.
The original design of this kind of tools is ancient and was intended only for men, so women nurses and doctors face different obstacles when using them, besides, the total proportion of practicing female doctors will grow dramatically in the coming years, which means that the number of people affected by ergonomic, usability and biomechanical problems will also increase if something is not done now.
2. Insights
The first part of the research was based on obtaining information through interviews. I have several doctor friends, so I asked them to give me some time to talk to their female coworkers.
Without a doubt there was a notable difference in the size of the hands, and they commented that having better instruments could help them a lot. So the next thing was to carry out an ergonomics analysis.
These measurements were taken from the hands of female nurses and doctors, which are similar to the measurements reported in other Latin American publications. These measurements were compared with the space in the grip areas of the scissors and tweezers to determine the free space left. At the same time, these measurements were compared with those reported in scientific articles and books on anthropometric measurements from Latin America.
Ergonomically speaking, the 5th-percentile woman's hand is considerably smaller than the 95th-percentile man's hand in every dimension. The differences are even more pronounced at the 1st and 99th percentiles, where thumb widths, for example, range from a mere 0.6 to 1.2 in. twice as wide.
Strength differences are also dramatic.4 The 2.5th-percentile woman's squeezing grip strength, for example, is 53 lbf, while the 97.5th-percentile man can exert 147 lbf. For the same individuals, fingertip pinch strengths range from 7.5 to 30 lbf. As a rule, designers can figure that the average woman's hands, and upper extremities in general, are about half as strong as the average man's.
A recent survey sponsored by Ethicon collected hand size and strength data from the participating surgeons. The data suggest that almost 50% of all surgical instruments feel too large to grip comfortably and feel improperly contoured to the hand. Moreover, respondents with particularly small hands opined that 80–90% of all surgical instruments are not ergonomically suitable for their particular use.
Strength differences are also dramatic.4 The 2.5th-percentile woman's squeezing grip strength, for example, is 53 lbf, while the 97.5th-percentile man can exert 147 lbf. For the same individuals, fingertip pinch strengths range from 7.5 to 30 lbf. As a rule, designers can figure that the average woman's hands, and upper extremities in general, are about half as strong as the average man's.
A recent survey sponsored by Ethicon collected hand size and strength data from the participating surgeons. The data suggest that almost 50% of all surgical instruments feel too large to grip comfortably and feel improperly contoured to the hand. Moreover, respondents with particularly small hands opined that 80–90% of all surgical instruments are not ergonomically suitable for their particular use.
This is why it is necessary to redesign the objects, proposing solutions and gender equality.
Sustainable Development Goal #5 of the United Nations agenda 2030: Achieve gender equality and empower all women.
Sustainable Development Goal #5 of the United Nations agenda 2030: Achieve gender equality and empower all women.
The results showed that current surgical tools are indeed designed for measurements larger than those that women have. Reviewing the literature, I found several articles that talk about the lack of ergonomics of these tools in women, which ended up validating the hypothesis.
3. Solutions
The logical and simplest solution would be to design utensils for women, with different measurements (like many things that are small, medium and large).
However, the user experience goes far beyond just being able to achieve the goal. When analyzing the environment in which doctors perform surgery, it is not correct to just increase the number of options with different sizes.
While they are in surgery, many times it is urgent and time is key, if there are many options, they would waste time exchanging measurements of utensils. It is also not sustainable because more would be manufactured, and our planet is already full of products. We don't need more, we need what we have to be better.
While they are in surgery, many times it is urgent and time is key, if there are many options, they would waste time exchanging measurements of utensils. It is also not sustainable because more would be manufactured, and our planet is already full of products. We don't need more, we need what we have to be better.
So the proposed solution is that the existing scissors could be ergonomically adapted to different measurements.
4. Validating
Concept Explorations: A common use for user interviews is to explore concept ideas during the early stages of the development process. One way to do this is to show users illustrations or early models of the concept idea so as to obtain their feedback. Concept exploration interviews provide valuable input, but they can be difficult to perform without influencing the participant.
The digital proposal was shown to different female doctors in 3 different hospitals and at the health school performing an emotion analysis. The response was total approval. In fact, this proposal won first place in the national design competition in Mexico.
5. UI
6. Takeaways
Even though it is not a digital interface, the process I followed is identical to the processes I do for digital interfaces to achieve an improved user experience.
Designing products for men and others for women not only fills the planet with more garbage, but also creates a division that distances us from gender equality. Why should women use different tools? A universal design is needed that allows everyone to use them without losing stability, usability and experience when using them.
The next stage is to create physical prototypes to test them in use and now be able to measure variables such as time and success rate. At the same time, an article is being written with the insights and results.
The next stage is to create physical prototypes to test them in use and now be able to measure variables such as time and success rate. At the same time, an article is being written with the insights and results.
6.1 Research Paper in progress
