Capstone Proposal

THE ISSUE:

This capstone project is aimed at decreasing the negative impacts of long term hospitalised children for Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD). The products are designed to assist young primary school aged patients in their rehabilitation and treatment of CKD. The goal is to help encourage understanding and growth of these patients, reducing hospital time, and ensuring less of a negative impact left on the child.

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) and renal failure (RF) have been recognised as a significant medical problem for most of the last 2 centuries and, until relatively recently, were uniformly fatal. Chronic kidney disease is characterised by an irreversible deterioration of renal function that gradually progresses to end-stage renal disease (ESRD). Chronic kidney disease has emerged as a serious public health problem.

SIGNIFICANCE:

(Data gathered from the Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) registry, Kidney Health Australia, ItalKid and North American Pediatric Renal Transplant Cooperative Study (NAPRTCS))

• The incidence of kidney failure is rising among adults and is commonly associated with poor outcomes and high cost.

• In the past 2 decades, the incidence of the chronic kidney disease in children has steadily increased, with poor and ethnic minority children disproportionately affected.

• Children constituted 5.3% of patients with chronic kidney disease seen in a referral hospital.

• Studies reported a mean incidence of 12.1 cases per year per million in the age-related population (age range, 8.8-13.9 y) and a prevalence of 74.7 per million in this population.

• However, underreporting due to lack of recognition may suggest an even higher prevalence in children.

• About 70% of children with chronic kidney disease develop ESRD by age 20 years. They have a 10-year survival rate of about 80% and an age-specific mortality rate of about 30 times that seen in children without ESRD.

• The risk of death was associated with the year in which renal replacement therapy was initiated, the age of patients at the start of that therapy, and the type of dialysis used.

BENEFITS:

Everyone who has kidney failure, adults and children alike, will experience medical complications, which may include extreme fatigue, inability to concentrate, weak bones, nerve damage, depression, and sleep problems. Additional problems for children can include effects on their growth and development.

The isolation people feel because of kidney failure is especially a problem in children and adolescents because of the importance of making friends and fitting in at this age. The products designed will hopefully aid in ensuring that a child with kidney failure can become an active, well-adjusted adult.

How does this project suit your abilities or interests?

I first looked into this project because as a child, I had a family friend who suffered from chronic kidney disease (CKD), and it affected her in all aspects of her life. I didn’t understand the implication or extent of it, I just recalled that her bedroom always had devices which resembled a hospital. These machines were large and bulky, and took up a considerable amount of room. Looking back, from a complete stranger’s point of view, the equipment design made it fearful to touch or use, and it was alienating to visitors.

Recalling this now, I wanted to have a close look at CKD, and redesign the main devices used throughout the treatment course.  I wanted to incorporate the treatment devices into everyday use, and encourage those who have questions, to ask. I wanted to be able redesign medical devices for regular household use, because to someone who suffers from CKD, these treatments mean life or death.

I also believe that the childhood years are of the utmost importance. The medical products today for CKD are not geared towards being user-friendly in homes, and definitely do not account for children. There needs to be a change in this, because there has been a rise in the rate of diagnosis of CKD in children in the last two decades.

What is your approach or method to ensure that you deeply understand your problem topic and your user?

To ensure that I really understand the problem at hand I will be completing the following measures:

•  Primary research: Interviewing patients, and family and friends of patients. Hospital staff could provide in depth understanding as well.
• Secondary research: Reading scholarly articles, researching into existing designs and understanding the technology involved.
• Character profiles: Building character profiles of my user, and in this case, primary school children. This will help better understand who I’m designing for.
• Behavioural mapping: Understanding how my user behaves, documenting their activities during a certain time. E.g. treatment times during the week.
•  Draw from the experience: Similarly to character profiles, but gathering how their experience has affected them, and designing to combat negativity, or to encourage a faster healing process.
•  Scale modelling/experience prototyping: Working closely with my target market, and creating a product that encompasses what they need in their lives.