Monitra Upbeat

Every Beat Counts

Monitra Healthcare specializes in developing smart devices for monitoring cardiac activities. Their mission is to make healthcare monitoring less cumbersome for patients.

Arrhythmia, also known as a heart rhythm disorder, results from irregular electrical impulses that coordinate the heart’s beating. It can cause the heart to beat too quickly, too slowly, or irregularly.

Diagnosing arrhythmia is challenging due to the transient nature of these disturbances. Correlating electrocardiogram (ECG) findings during episodes with symptoms is difficult, especially since many episodes occur days, weeks, or even months apart.

Arrhythmias if left undetected can affect the quality of life through symptoms like palpitations, dizziness, and fatigue and in extreme cases, serious complications such as heart failure, stroke and cardiac arrest.

Monitra asked us to design and help manufacture upBeat®, a patch based continuous heart monitoring system. Unlike traditional ECGs, it could be used where patients needed it the most, in their offices and homes!

And unlike handheld ECG devices or watches, the device would record every beat 24 x7, giving your doctor far more data about what’s really going on in your heart!

Monitra wanted a partner to work as an in-house team, iterate as the program moved forward. A partner who could handhold them from concept across prototyping through to manufacturing.

Project Insights

For a device that would be first in class, it mattered that it would,

1. Look familiar to both patients and technicians to put them at ease.

2. Robust enough to survive baths in addition to daily movements, sports etc.

3. Easy to set up and use as tests could be done either in clinics or patients’ homes.

Be Invisible (when worn under clothes, that is)

User privacy is a big concern. People do not want to move around in public with a big device bulging out from under their clothes. At the same time, the device needed to be stuck onto a firm part to ensure best performance. We designed upBeat® to be slender so that it could be stuck on the chest just above the rib cage for both men and women. And thin so that it would not protrude out of their clothes!

Live with the User

For best performances, the device would have to be worn by the user 24 x 7. That meant being comfortable while sleeping, taking baths, playing sports, walking etc. We created a soft form factor to keep the device as comfortable as possible. And engineered for IP67 to let them shower, swim or dive with it!

Easy to Use

The upBeat® is applied by nurses at the time of hospital/clinic discharge. We designed the device to be applied in three simple steps. First, apply the patch in the same manner as a Band-Aid. Then snap the device onto the dock provided on the patch. And last, pair the device to the app downloaded on the patient’s mobile phone.

And looks Good

Good looking products inspire confidence in the user across domains. We designed it in a capsule shaped form factor with soft transitions across the perpendicular surfaces to assure the user that it’s comfortable to wear continuously for a week. Its clean unbroken surfaces and white and blue colour palette reassure the user that it’s hygienic as well as clinical grade.

With increased Brand Recall

We designed the device around the logo to ensure brand visibility across various touch points. While the name guides the nurse to install it in a foolproof manner, the logo acts as a status indicator informing about its readiness.

Concept to Production

We created a design that adjusted to changing tech and business requirements as the program moved forward. This allowed Monitra to demo the product, gain valuable user feedback and move towards production.

Key Tasks Accomplished

1. Concept Development
2. Enclosure Design
3. Prototype Design
4. Materials Selection
5. Design for Manufacturing
6. Tolerance Analysis
7. Vendor Management
8. Prototype Liaison
9. Postproduction support

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