P1a
Portable Blood Donation Chair
Directly after donating blood the donor changes position from lying down to standing which can increase the risk of fainting. Ideally, they should remain sitting for a few minutes to allow for their blood pressure to “equalize” gradually. The current bed doesn’t properly support the user in the sitting position which can result in injury.
The original bed has been changed to a chair formation which supports the user safely and comfortably in the sitting position and therefore helping to prevent fainting. My design allows the donor easy access to the chair without making it more difficult for the nursing staff to adjust the bed into the required positions for blood donation.
The bed uses a simple stackable chair formation which enables quicker set up and increased weight capacity whilst still fitting into the tight space constraints. A simple release mechanism allows the user to be adjusted safely into the CPR/faint position with minimum effort and more quickly than the current method allows.
1.The nurse adjusts the armrest to the appropriate height
2.The donor feels faint, press the foot pedal to release the back section
3.If CPR is required the nurse can release the support legs
I am particularly interested in human centred design and many of my design projects have focussed on this area. I would like to continue with this in the future and perhaps work with medical products. This area of design would provide me with an interesting range of design challenges i.e. integrating new engineering technologies into user friendly products.
