Medical Making: Nurse Inclusion in Point of Care Innovation

Abstract

Design tools are democratizing the means for innovation. If hobbyist makers 3D print in the basement or the next startup is hacking at the local makerspace, medical practitioners are also making at the point of care. Yet, such innovation at the frontline is recognized primarily among doctors. Maker Nurse, an MIT media lab initiative, found nurses are often stealth innovators who make smaller daily hacks. Nurses are women and often women of color. To facilitate this “low-level” innovation is in effect an improvement in diversity, equity and social justice. My project is motivated to address this bias by first understanding the type of interventional prototypes nurses create and then observing problem-solving through a design course.