The term poka-yoke, meaning “mistake-proofing,” originated in the 1960s as a design concept that aims to prevent human errors. For example, a plug that only fits into a port in one way is a poka-yoke principle because there is no way to erroneously insert the plug.
Team Consulting took the poka-yoke concepts and applied them to their product packaging.The company developed a fully functioning prototype that will be unveiled at the 2014 Pharmapack Europe event in Paris.
Instead of giving patients all the parts of a device at one time and a sheet of paper with all the instructions, the new device packaging gives users individual parts one at a time with illustrated instructions at every step, eliminating the risk of users putting the wrong pieces together or missing out on essential steps, according to the news release.
“Rather than giving the patient – or healthcare professional – all of the parts of the device and all of the instructions in one go, we think that the packaging could help avoid mistakes by taking them through the instructions and the product in easy to follow stages,” said Paul Greenhalgh, director of design for Team Consulting, in the news release.
The poka-yoke principles could be applied to more than just patient devices, according to the report. Eliminating human error risks could be greatly beneficial to reducing medical error and harm.
“If you look at a surgical environment, a poka-yoke approach to packaging may prevent staff mishandling equipment whilst setting up, not only to avoid errors, but also to help maintain the sterility of devices used in surgery,” said Mr. Greenhalgh in the news release.
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