Towards a Product Service System Framework for Lower Limb Prosthetic Devices

DS 116: Proceedings of the DESIGN2022 17th International Design Conference

Year: 2022
Editor: Mario Štorga, Stanko Škec, Tomislav Martinec, Dorian Marjanović
Author: Nicholas Patiniott (1), Jonathan C Borg (1), Emmanuel Francalanza (1), Alfred Gatt (1), Pierre Vella (1), Joseph Zammit (1), Kristin Paetzold (2)
Series: DESIGN
Institution: 1: University of Malta, Malta; 2: Technische Universit
Section: Design for Healthcare
Page(s): 1341-1350
DOI number: https://doi.org/10.1017/pds.2022.136
ISSN: 2732-527X (Online)

Abstract

Amputees face challenges with prosthesis such as cost, long delivery periods, as well as social discomfort. Simultaneously, the prosthetists and manufacturers have a difficulty to handle such diverse issues. We thus contribute a Prosthetic Life-Cycle Service System (ProLiSS) Framework, prescribed to involve amputees in different life phases. From an evaluation of ProLiSS, we conclude that it influences how prosthetics need to be designed and that it is beneficial to perform further research to provide manufacturers with a systematic, amputee-centered development and servicing framework.

Keywords: user-centred design, design for x (DfX), co-design, product-service systems (PSS), medical devices