A post by Andrew Barna

Design matters. Well designed products and services take us by surprise. In an ordinary world that ticks by without notice, good design catches our attention and lifts our spirits. In healthcare, good design can actually impact care. Some great examples of this can be found at the 2006 Industrial Design Excellence Awards. I like to peruse the winners each year to see examples of companies that have gone the extra mile to revolutionize a product or solve a problem. In the Medical and Scientific Products category, companies are creating products that are changing medicine and healthcare.

The Insulet Omnipod Personal Diabetes Management System, for instance, is a small insulin pump that attaches to the stomach and is controlled by a handheld "PDA". The interesting thing about this pump and controller is just how un-medical it looks. With the pump in place, operating the sysetem would look no different than a person checking their email on their Blackberry. This could give diabetes sufferers a sense of freedom and annonimity they might otherwise lack.

Another example is the SonoSite MicroMaxx Ultrasound System. This ultrasound machine appears to be the size of a laptop computer. Such a portable system could be used in medical missions and the remote villages of third-world countries. In places where medical equipment has to be brought in, devices like these improve the quality of care imensely.

There is no doubt that the constant march of technology, miniturization, new materials play a part in bringing us new and wonderful medical devices, but companies like Insulet and SonoSite add extra dash of enginuity that makes their products stand out from the croud.