IMPROVING THE OVERBED TRAY TABLE FOR CLINICAL USE
Our goal is to develop an overbed tray table that attaches directly to the hospital bed, which will eliminate the tripping hazard and make it easier to move and adjust the tray table for patients and in emergency situations.
The above video was created by my team and I to demonstrate how our newly designed overbed tray table solves the problems of a traditionally used overbed tray table. Our Fall 2021 video can be seen below.
Traditional Overbed Tray Table typically used in clinical settings
Our inital attempt at designing an overbed tray table that is attachable to a hospital bed.
Our initial attempt at attaching a tray table to the hospital bed itself.
Our second attempt at designing an overbed tray table that is attachable to a hospital bed. This image does not include the tray arm or tray, which did not change from prototype #1.
The support arm of the tray table can swivel allowing for easy adjustment and can allow access to patients in cases of emergency. Although not pictured, the tray itself can swivel 360 degrees.
V&V KEY
VERIFICATION RESULTS
VALIDATION RESULTS
THE MOTIVATION
Our design is the effort of 7 bioengineering students and 2 nursing students. As part of a two semester senior design class, we were tasked to identify clinical unmet needs. This portfolio covers the work we performed during the first semester of this class,
Ethnography efforts at the beginning of the semester discovered a clinical unmet need for a better designed overbed tray table. Some of the major issues with current tray tables are that they are difficult to adjust the height, difficult to move around as the wheels often do not function properly, they get stuck under the beds or on wires, and are a tripping hazard for nurses and other healthcare professionals.
THE PROCESS
After initial brainstorming and sketching, we began prototyping our tray table. We completed two rounds of prototyping using foamcore for our tray, pvc pipe for our support arm, and wood for bed attachment during the fall semester. Our initial two prototypes focused on the bed attachment aspect of our design to ensure its feasibility. Upon the beginning of the spring semester, our design was finalized. The finalized design utilizes a commercial grade cuttingboard as the tray and 80/20 to provide support to the tray table.
Testing of our prototypes was performed in the School of Nursing's Simulation Lab.
THE CURRENT DESIGN
Our current design allows for swiveling of the table frame (as seen in the prototye #2 images) and the tray for easier use by patients and clinicians. In addition, the tray can currently be detached from the support arm during emergency situations and the table frame can be quickly be swiveled out of the way. The height of the table can be adjusted by pulling out the tab and then raising or lowering the table. The size of our tray table matches the dimensions of traditional tables.
Verification and Validation testing was performed on the final design. Our testing revealed that the our design is well liked by patients and is easy to clean and durable. However, based on our mechanical testing and nurse/caregiver validation, the tray table is not currently suited for use in a hospital. If this project were to continue, we would focus on building a more structurally sound tray table, which would potentially meet clinician satisfaction.
MY V&V EFFORTS: WIPE/SPRAY TEST
MY CONTRIBUTION
Fall Contributions:
I performed multiple roles over the course of the semester. During ethnography efforts, I was responsible for writing our surveys. I aided in the development of our first prototype. I primarily helped create the tray table's connector to the bed and the table height adjustment mechanism. For our video, I was responsible for writing the storyboard that we followed during filming. I also assisted with the execution of our assignments involving FDA quality system regulations.
Spring Contributions:
Similarly to the Fall Semester, I performed multiple roles. I helped fabricated our final design by modifying the length of the support arm. I assisted with the completion of FDA and EU MDR documents. For our verification testing, I was responsible for the completion of the test protocol, the testing, and the test report of VE-1 (VER-001: Wipe/Spray Test). My verification efforts can be seen to the above photos.
Check out our Fall and Spring project posters by clicking below!!!
Check out our Fall 3-min Video
Notice: This project was developed as part of the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering course BIOENG 1160: Bioengineering Senior Design 1 and BIOENG 1161: Bioengineering Senior Design 2