Tubie : Ambulatory tube-feeding, for an active every day life

Abstract: Background Tube-feeding or nutritional support is a therapy for people who can’t get enough nutrition by eating or drinking. You may need it if you have difficulty swallowing, loss of appetite, are severely malnourished or have inability to absorb nutrients through your digestive system. There are several diagnoses associated with tube-feeding, depending on the persons diagnose and users state the user can be tied to the tube-feeding equipment from 3 to 18 hours a day. In Sweden there are around 1500-3000 adults in need of tube-feeding outside the hospitals.   Method This report is made by Cindy Sjöblom and is an individual student’s work. The project is her dissertation and final project at the two year Masters program Advanced Product Design at Umeå Institute of Design. The project has been executed during 20 weeks the spring 2015. The project is based on the design process which includes the following phases; Research & Analysing, Ideation & Concept’s and Detailing & Visualization. The Research & Analysis phase has included; Product analysis, user interviews & observations, market outlook, anatomical knowledge, problem listing and opportunity findings. The Ideation & Concept’s phase has included; Inspiration, persona creation, creative workshop, sketching, concepts creation, mock-up building, user testing & feedback. The Detailing & Visualization phase has included; 3D modelling, moodboard creation, sketching, final model building, photo shooting, video recording, documentation, presentation and a poster and exhibition stand at Umeå Institute of Design and at Semcon, Gothenburg. Result Tubie is an ambulatory tube-feeding system to facilitate an active everyday life for people in need of enteral nutrition. Tubie consists out of six parts; A nutrition pump and a wireless charging station, a nutrition bag and an external tubing, a wearable waist band and an application for a smart device to be able to control the pump. Unlike traditional enteral nutritions systems, Tubie is designed with a focus on the users in a home environment and their need for a more active lifestyle and discreet usage in social environments. Tubie is simply discreet due to its wearable features that allows the user to wear it underneath the clothing as well as control the pump via a smart device with an adaptable pre-alarm that sounds like any other text message or ring tone.