Towards Greener ICUs: Redesigning the Use of Disposable Gloves

Lisanne van den Berg*, Armaĝan Albayrak, Nicole Hunfeld, Jan Carel Diehl

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter/Conference proceedingChapterAcademic

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

This research and design project is part of the Green ICU initiative and focused on reducing the environmental impact of gloves at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Erasmus Medical Center (EMC). At the ICU of the EMC around 108 gloves are used per patient per day; to protect the user (healthcare staff) from infections. The high frequency of use and the resource-intensive production define disposable nitrile gloves as one of the ‘hotspots’ contributing to the environmental impact created by the ICU. This research and design project addressed the problem from three different perspectives: user-centred, product-centred and supply-centred. The extensive research resulted in three design directions on how to reduce the environmental impact of gloves. Subsequently, all insights from the research were brought together into five design building blocks. These design building blocks provided guidance for the design phase of the project. The project resulted in a redesign of the current glove dispensers. The final design is named ‘GloVe’, a vertical dispense system. By incorporating the five building blocks, the design can provide benefits for multiple stakeholders within the healthcare system. It reduces the environmental impact of gloves in the ICU by dispensing one glove at a time. Furthermore, the gloves are dispensed at the cuff, which comes in little contact with the patient. The vertical movement is pleasant to the user. The use of colour for different sizes makes it clear to the care assistant which box should go in which holder. Also, nurses will see at a glance, which size gloves they are dispensing. The small V-shaped opening makes the undesirable behaviour, of placing gloves back, almost impossible.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationSpringer Series in Design and Innovation
PublisherSpringer Nature
Pages213-223
Number of pages11
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2024

Publication series

SeriesSpringer Series in Design and Innovation
Volume30
ISSN2661-8184

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024.

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