Case Studies
ISTARI / Care Cube Devices
Otherlab partnered with University Nebraska Medical Center Global Center for Health Security to create a new system for treatment of patients with infectious diseases that require isolation. Carrie was the soft goods designer on the team. She worked with infectious disease specialists and care providers to create a family of devices that allow the patient to be wrapped in protective equipment, while giving the providers and visitors excellent access to the patient.
Per University Nebraska Medical Center:
“The Isolation System for Treatment and Agile Response for High-Risk Infections (ISTARI) is a revolutionary portable negative pressure containment patient care system. The ISTARI family of devices increases safety, improves quality, and reduces cost for infectious diseases by minimizing the need for personal protective equipment by wrapping the PPE around the patient decreasing the need for equipment processing and training burden. The ISTARI system addresses common infrastructure issues; the clear, flexible walls facilitate patient interaction with both providers and visitors, it is manufactured at scale, and has use cases that span from patient transport to extended use in critical care environments.”
Infectious disease containment unit: in-hospital model
Extended and critical care in-hospital use for patients requiring isolation protocols
Designed to fit around a hospital bed in a standard hospital room
Gives providers full access to patient for large range of procedures (intubation, putting in a line, ultrasound, blood draws, and more)
Features
Lean-in windows and glove ports for patient access
Hug suit for full access to enclosure interior
HEPA filtration and negative pressure
Airlock pass throughs
Equipment access via conduit panels
Roll-up door for initial patient entry
Airlock chambers for PPE-clad provider entry and exit
Hug Suit
Allows a care provider to enter the unit while remaining completely outside of the unit’s system
Provider does not have to don PPE to have full access to the patient and their environment
Provider can assist patient from a fall, perform cleaning protocols inside the unit, help prone a patient, and perform other tasks that require being inside the unit.
Features
Clear visor with adjustable headband to comfortably fit any provider
Integrated blower providing fresh air
Combination of clear plastic and opaque fabric to humanize provider to patient, and to keep provider comfortable
Magnetic hanger for easy storage
Extreme environment infectious disease containment tent
For extended care in improvised environments without hospital facilities
Features
Large footprint and high ceiling for more comfortable extended stays
Wind- and weather- resistant architecture
2 Hug Suits for patient access
HEPA filtration and negative pressure
Windows providing sightlines to patient from outside
Lean-in windows, conduit panels, airlock pass throughs, and waste disposal ports
Airlock chambers for PPE-clad provider entry and exit
Transport infectious disease containment unit
For isolation and patient care during transport
Features
Adjustable frame that allows the unit to expand or contract. When expanded, providers have greater access to patient and can perform procedures such as intubation and CPR. Patients are less likely to be claustrophobic. When contracted, the unit can easily slide into a helicopter or airplane.
HEPA filtration and negative pressure
Patient access via lean-in window and auxiliary arm port
Equipment access via conduit panels for wires and tubing
Airlock pass-through and waste storage
Kelp farming upweller anchor remover
Kelp aquaculture involves anchoring an upweller on the seabed to move particles that sustain the kelp up to where they can reach them. To remove the upweller’s anchor, Pete Lynn at Otherlab designed an inflatable fabric anchor remover. Carrie built the first prototype.
Lofting fabric jacket
Skyscrape fabric lofts when cold, and flattens when warm, to provide the right amount of insulation for the weather.
This jacket was made for thermal manikin testing.