Medical Device Components Resources

As diagnostic devices move closer to home, we’ll need solutions that accommodate all lifestyles. We want wearables that stick through everything, from swimming to sweat. Solutions need to be soft enough for a baby or elderly person’s skin, yet strong enough to stay on for an extended period of tracking and monitoring. Grounded in skin comfort and fueled by customer needs, the 3M team is adapting to better support the medical wearables market. Here’s how.

Read more about designing wearables that win skin in the market (PDF, 3100 KB)

Consumers — from world-class athletes to everyday people — are already using wearables to track sleep, count steps and monitor health. As of 2020, BCC Research indicates that approximately 151 million Apple watches had been shipped.1 Among American and British consumers, Fitbit remains the most popular brand of wearable.1 Wearables are here to stay, but what they do, how they function and what they track will evolve — and advance.

Read more about the future is digital (PDF, 1883 KB)

What used to require a hospital stay may now be done remotely, using a small wearable body patch. No need to be hooked up to machines wearing open air hospital gowns. Success of stick to skin wearable monitoring devices relies heavily on accuracy, design and the device’s secure attachment to the body throughout the required wear time.

Read more about designing wearable devices for fragile skin (PDF, 3400 KB)

Microfluidic devices transform lives. Thanks to modern technology and miniaturization of diagnostic tests it’s possible to diagnose from almost anywhere—right at the point of care. This ability to get answers and explore treatment options, immediately, has incredible implications for patients and providers around the globe.

Read more about Key Considerations for Scaling Microfluidic Devices (PDF, 260 KB)

Change in healthcare and the pace of medtech innovation is moving faster than ever. Like clinicians, wearable device design engineers have an important role to play in healthcare today. Device manufacturers must continually evolve their offerings to keep pace.

Read more about The Engineer’s Guide to Wearables (PDF, 321 KB)

Mapping out your clinical trials early on can help yield the best results. With some studies lasting up to 90 days, they require foresight, planning and persistence. It can also mean that at some point, the question will get asked if the testing was conducted using good laboratory practices (GLP).

Read more about Clinical Conundrums - A design engineer's guide to clinical trials: Understanding the basics (PDF, 3300 KB)

When you first embark on a new medical device development project, manufacturing can feel like a long way off. It might be weeks, months or a year or more away, and with all that needs to happen before then, it can be hard to dedicate the time to think through manufacturing’s effects on the final product. It can very much feel “out of sight, out of mind.”

Read more about Manufacturing Challenges (PDF, 439 KB)

Medical tapes need to stick to skin and stay— reliably. Then they need to get unstuck — as painlessly as possible. Changing adhesive dressings is considered one of the most painful aspects of long-term wound care (Hollinworth & Collier, 2000). Adhesive removal can cause erythema, edema, stripping of superficial cell layers, and skin tears. These outcomes are collectively referred to as Medical Adhesive Related Skin Injury, or MARSI (McNichol et al., 2013).

Read more about Applying Perception Science to Wearable Medical Device Design (PDF, 1184 KB)

Sweat. We usually try to avoid it – but sweat helps regulate our body temperature and provides insight into our health. The keys to using sweat in monitoring and diagnosis include choosing the right analyte (for some purposes, sweat analyte levels should correlate with blood analyte levels) and getting enough sample to detect. Sweat sensing technology is still in its infancy. We have a lot to learn and discover.

Read more about Sweat Analysis: An Emerging Technology for Assessing Health (PDF, 1142 KB)

For every 1,000 experiments 3M Scientist Audrey Sherman attempts, one succeeds. “You know the route to the grocery store,” Audrey explains. “You follow it, and you’re guaranteed a successful outcome.” Audrey’s job is to take the road less traveled. “We go where people haven’t gone before.”

A similar approach applies when taking a device from mind to market.

Read more about From Mind to Market (PDF, 1777 KB)

Sterilization directly effects device design. Some sterilization methods may alter certain material properties. For example, gamma radiation causes most polypropylenes to stiffen and degrade. Because of its influence, the sterilization method can define which materials to use in some projects. If that is the case, be sure to use a sterilization mode compatible with the material.

Read more about Sterilization 101 (PDF, 236 KB)

Are you a fan of the Middle Ages? Alfred the Great, Edward the Black Prince and Baibars the Mamluk are prominent warriors from that time, and they often went into battle wearing powerful armor for protection. Just like armor shields the warriors, skin shields us. It’s our armor and it protects our body. Sometimes, our armor undergoes an attack. A common culprit? MARSI.

Read more about A Vulnerability In The Body Armor (PDF, 5400 KB)

Interstitial fluid is having a moment. Today’s patients and providers want information immediately, and interstitial fluid can deliver. In fact, interstitial fluid often gives insight into conditions before blood can. In this paper, we’ll look at interstitial fluid’s diagnostic capabilities– but first let’s learn what interstitial fluid is and how it is formed in the body.

Read more about Interstitial Fluid: It Speaks Volumes (PDF, 3900 KB)

Damage to the skin because of diabetes is like other adverse events involving the skin since abnormalities will compound in an additive way to already existing changes. For example, it is a well recognized phenomenon that aging skin will be less resilient to external stresses.

Read more about Potential Problems When Sticking to the Skin of a Diabetic (PDF, 253 KB)

Blood glucose test strip accuracy is paramount, and it all starts with flawless design. Each layer within the strip has a critical function and needs to be able to do its job and work together without interference from other layers or external contamination.

Read more about Guidance for Designing Blood Glucose Test Strips (PDF, 858 KB)

Medical wearables play a key role in enablement of positive care outcomes and help simplify care management – changing patient quality of life for the better. But when it comes to designing an effective wearable device, numerous considerations must be taken into account.

Read more about Stick to Skin: A New Way for Medical Wearables (PDF, 180 KB)

In the world of medical devices – rules and regulations reign. Make sure your device complies with local requirements to help with the approval process and ensure people will have access to your potentially lifetransforming technologies. Of course, these rules and regulations are ever-changing. That’s why staying current is crucial; it can help expedite the process and mitigate delays.

Read more about Designing devices with European Medical Device Regulation (PDF, 2900 KB)

Microfluidic devices can signal the difference between health and illness. They monitor blood glucose, genetic biomarkers, screen for cancer, and more. They can detect pathogens and genetic biomarkers. Accuracy and the right materials are paramount as you design and manufacture these critical tools.

Read more about A Guide to Manufacturing Microfluidic Device Key Components (PDF, 522 KB)

When skin is damaged, it can negatively impact our psychological and physical health. The skin’s ability to act as a barrier depends on a variety of factors, including: structure of skin, genetics and lifestyle, environmental factors, skin changes over our lifetime and underlying conditions and diseases.

Read more about Understanding skin and designing wearable devices (PDF, 200 KB)