This project focused on developing a design brief that would meet user needs for safety engineered scalpels (designed to reduce risk of injury for health care workers), as well as comply with regulatory requirements

Injuries related to needle sticks and sharps represent a significant risk of exposure for surgical teams to blood-borne pathogens. WorkSafeBC introduced new regulations in 2008 for the use of safety engineered sharps, including scalpels. However, safety engineered scalpels have low adoption rates for many surgical procedures, and while designs of such instruments are focused on meeting regulatory requirements, many do not meet workers’ needs, which can contribute to low use during surgical procedures

This project focused on developing a design brief that would meet user needs as well as comply with regulatory requirements, creating a list of design criteria to meet the demands of user preference, and investigating commercially-available safety engineered scalpels to assess their efficacy