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DESIGN - gastric feeding tubes      



for a northwestern design club, my 4-person team was asked to redesign gastric feeding tubes, or g-tubes, for lurie childrens hospital. g-tubes are used to feed patients with gastrointestinal conditions, neurological disorders, or other chronic illnesses. 


         












g-tubes have major issues with clogging, caused by infrequent cleaning and stiffness from food buildup. we were looking to create a declogging solution that made the cleaning process easier and more effective.


research & ideation


we interviewed multiple caregivers, as well as a nurse at lurie’s. we learned that foods with high fat content cause the most clogging. we also found that a majority of users currently cleaned the g-tube extensions by flushing with hot water and leaving them to dry, although they were often beyond salvagable and thrown away.         
these are some solution ideas we came up with, both structural and preventative: 



we put out a survey to collect data from g-tube users, and we found that 87% of users reported observing stiffness of the g-tube extensions with extensive use.
        
this was interesting to us— how does stiffness relate to clogging? why did it seem to be such an issue?

to test it out, we soaked g-tubes in yogurt and milk (which are high in fat) for multiple days, and found that the tubes stiffened.

according to additional interviews, stiffening causes the tubes to get stuck in a curved shape, making the structure more prone to clogging.        

final product


although we did not have the resources to physically prototype with medical-grade materials, we used CAD to model a product for lurie’s. 

the model features two main components: a rigid rod that remains in the tube during drying to prevent curving, and detachable bristles that screw onto the rod for internal cleaning of fat and residue buildup. an o-ring is attached at the end of the rod to easily remove the bristles after cleaning. 

the rod would be made of stainless steel and the bristles out of nylon, materials often used in medical tools for their sterility and antimicrobial properties.