3M Ioban Form

 
3M Ioban Form is a surgical incision film that eliminates bacteria at the incision site. A flexible film that is applied directly to the skin surface and has an Iodine formulation preventing any future surgical infections. The unique shape is tailore

Ioban surgical incision wrap

Patient prep surgical drape that prevents bacteria from the skin’s surface from entering the surgical incision. 3M’s current product offering of Ioban is offered as various rectangular sizes, leaving surgical staff to cut and customize to wrap around site-specific surgical areas on the patient. Ioban Form was born out of the need to customize the shape and application experience for shoulder replacement surgery.

 

Workflow Map

Ioban Form was developed in partnership with Mayo Clinic’s shoulder replacement surgeon Dr. Sperling. He allowed us full-access to multiple shoulder replacement surgeries and even allowed Mayo Clinic’s on-site photography to document the end-to-end workflow of patient prep + surgery, to better understand how Ioban was used in a real-world application.

Ioban in-use

The surgical staff were the primary users of Ioban, prepping the patient in an identical way for each shoulder replacement surgery. The Ioban was included in a Medline kit that was then cut-down and stretched across the top of the shoulder to the wrist, and wrapped around. A second sheet was placed at the armpit and stretching to the wrist. Application was clunky and was a two-person job. Wrinkles at the surgical incision site were deemed unacceptable.

 

Rapid Prototyping

Multiple rounds of concepts and physical prototypes were created and brought back to Mayo for use and feedback. Initially the rectangular shape of Ioban was swapped out for a more angled shape that would naturally drape the top of the shoulder down to the wrist. This shape emerged from looking at T-shirt sleeve patterns and mimicking the triangular shape. Other design details were added like a rigid paper frame to hold the thin (saran-wrap like) film from folding over itself. In addition, multiple “lanes” of removable adhesive liner were added to safely secure the middle of the Ioban to the arm, then unwrap the sides to create a wrinkle-free application.

 

Final two-piece design

The final design was introduced and proved to be a great value add over the traditional Ioban sheets offered. The multiple iterations of prototype designs and shapes were protected under a utility patent that covered not only the unique shape but the application experience that was proven to enhance the patient prep workflow for shoulder replacement surgery.