An empathetic approach was critical as the project and outcomes were centred on patients in the ICU. I tried to gain an understanding of the problem while sitting with my grandmother for hours and also observing the needs of other tracheostomy patients in the ICU. Speaking with doctors, nurses and physiotherapists also helped me define the problem statement and potential outcomes. I realised here “Less is more”. That meant we needed to work towards capturing maximum output /communication with minimum inputs.

     Due to sepsis and GI bleeding, my grandma would be sedated for hours if not days. Through inputs from her nurses and observing her closely in the few hours she would be awake, I tried to capture the key requirements.

     Capturing key commands which could be used by my grandma and ICU patients, on a rough sketch needed detailed thinking. Unlike in other tabs where the design focus is on being sleek and getting a cool look, my focus was to create a design that was convenient to use and sensitive to the shaky hands of patients. It was important to have a large font size and big buttons to make it user friendly.

     I worked on this project for over 6 months. The journey of making this project, from working on the basic problem statement to building a working model, was a very emotional one. I started this project with my grandma in mind. Though she is no more, I really hope that in the future this will bring some comfort to other tracheostomy patients in the journey of their recovery.