Cardinal Health Kendall SCD Compression System

Compression therapy for the hospital or home

Covidien, later acquired by Medtronic, chose Farm for the engineering, human factors, graphical user interface, and design of its compression controller. In 2017 Cardinal Health acquired Medtronic's Deep Vein Thrombosis business. The Kendall SCD™ 700 Series Controller, used in conjunction with the Kendall SCD™ Sequential Compression Comfort Sleeve, helps reduce the incidence of potentially fatal venous thromboembolisms by delivering sequential, gradient, and circumferential compression to the leg.

Farm's team conducted generative research to gain a better understanding of the use environment and the device's elements of interaction with patients and clinicians. Field research uncovered unmet user needs, including the ability to operate the device with one hand, a flexible yet secure method for attaching the device securely to hospital bedrails of varying widths, and a simplified GUI.

Instead of using a typical off-the-shelf medical monitor mount, Farm’s development team focused on creating concepts that could integrate the bed rail mount and actuation mechanism into the overall form of the device. Prototypes were fabricated for mechanical feasibility and models were created for preference testing, resulting in the selection of a single clip / angled arm design. Multiple refinements were completed to optimize the design based on performance, ergonomics, development risk, cost, reliability, and manufacturability.

Emphasis on early detailed engineering and Finite Element Analysis greatly influenced the component design and reduced development time. Farm also improved the controller by working with sound experts to mitigate pneumatic pump noise by designing and implementing a muffler and foam enclosure to aid in pump vibration isolation.

The collaboration between Farm and Covidien brought the new controller from concept to commercialization in just 14 months. The result was a single-handed use device that mounts securely to the various hospital bed rails found on the market today. A large display with strategically placed buttons and animated icons provides users with real-time status feedback, improving controller functionality, ease of use, and overall operation. The Kendall SCD™ Sequential Compression Comfort Sleeve and the Kendall SCD™ 700 Series Controller received 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on November 4, 2010.

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