Reading “The effect of a new syringe design on the ability of rheumatoid arthritis patients to inject a biological medication” provided me with some valuable insights into the process of testing a new design. The fact that this was done in an academic journal makes sense because it is a product designed specifically for the medical field, a decidedly academic field, HMO’s aside. I’m curious, though how ergonomic designs for less-academic realms are tested though, and if they are put through the same scientific rigor as this one. I didn’t detect many limitations besides those noted by the researchers, and they clearly disclosed their biases as employees of the company funding the study. Those things aside, the new design is clearly an improvement over the old one, improving the leverage of the patient, and their overall ability to use the product for its intended purpose. Aesthetically and functionally, improvement has been made through this design.
Though improvements are significant, they are not dramatic or surprising, and it is apparent to me that the designers are working within an old paradigm. The highest ratings and some of the biggest overall improvements for the new design were in aesthetic areas, which may indicate that the look of the product had a more significant role in the overall improvement in use of the product than increased functionality. When comparing the the images of patients using the new and old products, there is almost no difference. Both patients have bent wrists, compromising the ability of the hands to do work. It seems that any design aimed at improving hand functions should first look at the wrist position that it requires of users, considering that all muscles controlling the hand travel through the carpal tunnel. Putting the wrist in the best possible position would likely require a more significant re-design than that of this study, but would likely provide more dramatic improvements. Of course, I am not a medical professional, so there may be other aspects of the problem that I am missing.