“StealthStation” – Navigation For Safer Spine Surgery

Impact: Design Shifts Strategy

“StealthStation” – Navigation For Safer Spine Surgery | IDEO for Medtronic | 2004-2008

The Need: Go from Gathering Dust to Active Use

Medtronic Navigation developed technology to streamline spine surgery and protect surgeons from excess radiation by using real-time optical tracking of instruments – rather than frequent x-rays – to guide screw placemen. They came to us to figure out why most units were sitting unused.

The Design: Fit Seamlessly into the Surgical Workflow

Extensive field research uncovered the system’s usability flaws at both strategic and tactical levels. We looked at everything from product positioning, to software, hardware and service delivery. Our first project focused on developing a model to explain how the system should work and integrate into the surgical team, and subsequent projects delivered design specifics.

In the first design effort we tackled the user interface, creating flows that gave each member of the surgical team exactly the information they needed at just the right moment. Next, we worked on the physical tower and other system peripherals, reconfiguring the hardware to better support the surgeon. Finally we looked at potential service models the business might use to enable scale and spread across different types of surgical centers.

My Role: Interaction Designer then Project Lead

On early projects I was an interaction designer, developing wireframes and prototypes for testing and working with visual designers to deliver UI assets. On subsequent projects I was the project lead, driving process, aligning the industrial and service design teams, and liaising with the client.

Spine surgery involves placing screws with precision

User interface designed to support each member of the surgical team with the tasks they need to complete to enable successful surgery

Tower designed for all modes of use, including multiple ways a surgeon may prefer to do surgery and storage