Jacob Morrison Barbour – SDCA Degree Show 2024

thrive

A platform for accessible cancer care at home

thrive is a platform that provides users with more ownership over their chemotherapy at home. thrive adopts a form of chemotherapy called ambulatory infusion where a user wears an infusion pump for up to 48 hours. District nurses come in and out of the home to set up, wrap up and carry out other procedures such as regular flushing, which is expensive to set up and run with the current NHS understaffing issues. By removing the need for district nurses, thrive decreases the cost and increases the accessibility of at-home cancer care. This is achieved through a redesign of the ambulatory chemotherapy procedures to improve the usability and safety when operated by the user at home.

Adaptable and Foldable

**The silicone SASH mat changes based on the workflow the user is doing**, making it adaptable to all the processes required. When not in use, **the user folds the mat over to become a lid** which reduces the footprint during storage or transport and protects the contents inside.

Tube Management and Priming

**The Drip Cover attaches to the cassette tubing making priming easy as it catches the harmful drug for safe disposal**. Once the process is complete the user can wrap up the tubing around the Pump to easily wear the device. **The tubing length is such that the user has flexibility of movement when showering, sleeping and going out and about.**

One-Handed Use

During some steps of the process, **the user can clip the Port Cover into the Arm Band. This enables the user to interact with their line for flushing, disinfecting and connecting with only one hand.** This is achieved by a redesign of the needleless luer connector. The increased size of the luer connector with the Port Cover on helps users who may have symptoms such as tingling hands.

Elastomeric Cassette

The Cassette is prefilled with chemotherapy drugs before being sent to the user. **This new innovative Cassette contains and central core and drug filled balloon** which helps to reduce the air in the Cassette and enables users to handle the pump in any orientation they feel comfortable with, providing users with greater flexibility than with the current infusion pumps on the market.

Cohesive App

**The thrive app helps to manage the whole system**, embodying the design principles of being reassuring, friendly, informative and trustworthy. **The app helps manage deliveries, connect the user to their care team, keep track of infusion dates and progress and interact with a community of other users. It also acts as a symptoms diary**, providing users with tips on how to deal with symptoms they are experiencing.

Informative Process

The device screen walks users through all the procedures they may need for their cancer care. The GUI **guides users through these steps with detailed, friendly and informative diagrams.** Even when users may be comfortable with the process, a helpful reminder of what to do helps **maintain adherence.**

Design for Manufacture

Prototype Development and Testing

Bodystorming exercise as a pilot study for user testing

Development of the Arm Band, Port Cover and Drip Cover

02 Pebble – helping you “ride the wave” of a panic attack

Pebble is a chest-worn device, that discreetly hides underneath your clothes, acting as your companion through a panic attack. It uses sensors combined with AI to predict, detect and pre-empt a panic attack, guiding you through tailored breathing exercises using haptics.

Pebble was a 10 day design sprint and live project set by DCA. Pebble was awarded 1st place.

The User Journey

Sensors and AI are **the brains of the operation**

Front facing clip for **easy one handed use**

Manually activated with the button on the front if needed

Pebble Power – Garnering Trust With AI

The main screen in the app displays Pebble Power. **This highlights the power of the AI and its familiarity with you as a user. As you use the device more, the AI learns from you and improves, becoming a better companion**. Making users aware of this makes them not lose trust in the device during the early phases of use.

User Behaviour Powers The AI

The other sections of the app allow users to see recent activity, give feedback on breathing exercises, write a diary of their panic attacks and more. **This all helps to power the AI alongside the sensors so it isn’t just a generic AI but is tailored towards the lived experience of the user.**

Awards

Starpack Gold Winner and Industry Winner 2020 – Awarded by Graphic Packaging International
Worldstar Certificate of Recommendation
RSA Awards Shortlist
1st Place in Live Projects – Awarded by DCA

Industry Experience

Graphic Packaging International – 1 week work experience

At my time at Graphic Packaging International, I worked on developing a new packaging solution for on-the-go breakfast food items. The full design process was carried out, including research, ideation, prototyping as well as the completion of an aesthetic and functional model. This was all completed within the week allowing me to experience the full development process using their facilities alongside a tour of the manufacturing facilities to help embed feasibility into my design solution.

TTP (The Technology Partnership) – Year in Industry

Over my year at TTP I worked on a variety of client and internal projects across the business. This ranged from medical device development, surgical equipment, technical lab equipment as well as communications and smart technology. My experience helped me hone my skills across the board, from user centered research, ideation and user testing through to DFM and design implementation. I also honed my professional skills through weekly client meetings, client prototyping workshops etc. I built many relationships with the clients I worked with and collaborated on planning and running a 10 day user study across Europe. The experience was invaluable and ignited my passion for user centered product development.