Designing For an Emergency: Pharmapack Europe 2025 Session Preview

But there are many positives, especially in the world of Type 1 Diabetes, as these devices not only provide condition management insights, but also provide therapy recommendations.”

Q: Your session looks at emergency use of devices – can you tell us a little more about this?

"Sure. The issue we see here is that medical device companies obviously try to design for real-world situations. Take a Glucagon pen for example, which is used to save lives during a glucose slump. In a formative or summative research session, we strive to have people handle the device in an environment that, as accurately as possible, mimics the real deal! But how can we successfully simulate the emotional and cognitive burden someone experiences when they use a device like this?  Imagine, a parent confronted by their son or daughter mid-seizure, having to prepare and inject a Glucagon pen, as intended by the manufacturer. It’s an acutely stressful event and medical products need to be designed with that in mind. But how do we develop and ‘test’ these devices in a simulated scenario and know that they’ve been designed in a way that will give people a fighting chance of handling them correctly?

Beyond that challenge, how can emergency use devices like this, the packaging and instructions, be better developed to help users handle them correctly?”

Q: Can you explain a bit more what an emergency scenario might look like?

"More often than not, this takes the form of a study moderator introducing the study to the participant and, at some point in the session, asking the participant to imagine they are in a certain scenario. They are then asked to go ahead and use the product (and anything available to them), imagining this is real life. So, there’s an attempt to recreate the pressure someone might experience during an emergency, maybe even stating the time in which they need to complete the device handling steps. An effort is also made to recreate environmental and audio conditions that someone might experience in this situation – so if they were at home, there might be a TV sounding in the background, or children playing. In the case of a Glucagon pen, the person will have the instructions in front of them, should they choose to use them, and will then likely go through the steps of opening the packaging, reading the instructions, preparing, and then injecting the device into a mannequin. The question here is, during device development and ultimately, summative testing, how do we accurately replicate real-life situations. And how do we ensure a dose of reality is incorporated into product design, from the outset. It’s an important question, and one that needs further attention."

One byproduct of events is that they maintain the passion, excitement, and purpose that fuels device development.Pharmapack EuropeQ: What might be the lessons we can take forward or how can we implement learnings?

“One of the many things we can do is to speak directly with people that have in the past administered emergency care, and learn from their experience. What did it feel like? How did they find handling the device? What did they find easy, what did they find challenging, and why? It’s these insights that will place us in a better position when it comes to developing emergency use medical devices and instructions.” 

Q: Last question, innovation is coming from newer and smaller companies. How important are events to facilitating the research ecosystem across the pharmaceutical industry and helping accelerate innovation?

"Very important, it provides an environment where like-minded people can come together, discuss developments, learnings, and ideas. Another byproduct of these events is that they maintain the passion, excitement, and purpose that fuels device development, i.e. the desire to improve lives and outcomes. It’s also a great opportunity for companies like ClariMed to meet device developers, understand their challenges and successes,  and align on how we can support their efforts.”