Design for Healthcare

I have professional and research experience developing interactive technologies for healthcare. At UK, I am part of the Creative Link for Advancing Digital Health. As a member of the ZIBRIO Balance Research Institute, I worked on translational research commercializing software and devices for fall prevention for older adults.

Current Projects

Publications

Designing a Novel Support System for Feeding Pumps - a Case Study in User Involvement in Medical Design
Kristin A. Bartlett
, Masters Thesis, 2019

Medical devices are often designed without any user involvement, but many devices migrate from the hospital and end up in the home. I employed a participatory design process which included home users of feeding pumps in the design of a novel support system for feeding pumps. The resulting design was preferred by the users after in-home prototyping testing. This work was presented at the International Design Conference (IDC) 2019 in Chicago, IL.

Paper Video Design

Characterizing sensor accuracy requirements in an artificial intelligence-enabled medical device
Kristin A. Bartlett, Katharine E. Forth, and Stefan Madansingh, IPEM Translation, 2022

Artificial intelligence and machine learning applications are increasingly prevalent in the healthcare industry. In some cases, medical devices use sensor-collected data to feed into algorithms which generate scores or risk assessments that are used to inform patient care. The process of determining sensor accuracy requirements which will ensure that the algorithm generates reliable scores is not straightforward or well-defined. In this paper, we describe a simulation-based method to characterize sensor accuracy requirements for a device that uses a machine-learning algorithm to generate a postural stability score.

Paper Design

An RGB-D Sensor-Based Instrument for Sitting Balance Assessment
Kristin A. Bartlett and Jorge D. Camba, Multimedia Tools & Applications (in press, 2023)

This project was proposed by occupational therapists who were looking for a more accurate method to measure seated balance for their clients who aren’t able to stand. We developed a software system that uses the Kinect sensor to measure body movements during seated balance assessment exercises.

Paper Design

Validating a low-cost, consumer force platform as an accessible alternative for postural sway
Kristin A. Bartlett, Katharine E. Forth, Charles S. Layne, and Stefan Madansingh, Journal of Biomechanics, 2019

The purpose of the present study was to validate the center of pressure (COP) measurements in the Zibrio SmartScale. Simultaneous COP data was collected by a Zibrio SmartScale and a laboratory-grade force platform (LFP) under the dynamic motion of an inverted pendulum device intended to mimic the sway of a standing human. Results indicated that the Zibrio SmartScale can perform adequately as a lightweight and low-cost alternative method of COP measurement in comparison to a traditional LFP.

Paper Design

Additional Publications