Hartwell Simulation: Hartwell Simulation System

The software problems we solve at Smudge come in many shapes and sizes. Sometimes, organisations build something themselves and decide they could use a little help with those final technical and design hurdles. That’s the situation Hartwell Simulation CEO Michael Sheedy found himself in when he approached us in 2022.

Michael is based at Christchurch Hospital. His main role is heading up the bioengineering team; their job is to design bespoke solutions to meet the needs of the medical specialists who work for HealthNZ – Te Whatu Ora.

Enabling medical experts with the right tools

Michael explains, “We enable medical experts by giving them the necessary tools. We can modify an existing device or make one from scratch. Often, we’re bridging the gap between medical company devices and the diverse needs of our patients.”

Michael and his team make everything from bespoke surgical retractors to titanium plates for skull implants. They also support clinical simulations. Simulations allow teams to practice resolving medical scenarios in a risk-free environment. Simulations are invaluable for medical students and clinical teams to use to upskill. Various devices are used to simulate medical scenarios, and the bioengineering team provides valuable support for these devices whether it be hardware or software.

The importance of realistic clinical simulations

In 2014, anaesthetist Dr Dan Hartwell asked Michael for help to run simulations within the hospital working environment.

Simulations can be run in dedicated centres or in hospitals. Simulation centres are great for teamwork and communication; however, they fall short on recreating technical problems. Michael explains, “Simulation centres use fake monitors, which aren’t the same as real monitors in surgery. It’s like training a pilot in a Boeing 747, then chucking them in an Airbus. The flight controls are completely different.”

Dan solved this issue by running simulations in a surgical environment using a real anaesthetic monitor to train students to respond to the machine's changing cues. He’d even worked out how to use biomedical calibrators to replicate a patient’s heartbeat, blood pressure, respiration rate, and oxygen level.

However, calibrators aren’t designed to alter inputs dynamically. So, Dan was conducting simulations by adjusting pulse, respiration, and oxygen saturation on three different calibrators in front of him. Michael says, “We likened it to Dan being a DJ playing a set. He was doing a great job replicating a lifelike anaesthetic scenario, but it was stressful, took a lot of set up, and was difficult for someone else to do.”

Making a simulator everyone could use

Dan acquired a new device that calibrated blood pressure, heart rate, and oxygen saturation. This was a big step forward; however, it was designed for calibrating equipment, not running a simulation. Dan still had to navigate between menus, so Dan asked Michael to develop a single interface he could use to simulate vital sign changes in response to clinical decisions.

To develop a solution Michael says, “I taught myself how to code and worked closely with Dan and other hospital clinicians to design an intuitive, easy user interface, so people could drive the simulator with very little training.”

Taking their game-changing prototype to market

Once Dan and Michael got the simulator prototype running, they saw how much it improved the calibre of their clinical simulations. They realised they’d built something of benefit to the whole medical establishment and created a company to take the tool to market. However, they needed support to commercialise their prototype.

Michael recalls, “The prototype worked well and was easy-to-use, but it was fairly ad hoc in how it connected. I'm not a programmer, so whenever I wanted to change the software, I had to spend hours weaving my way through code. It made it hard to fix problems and evolve the device. That’s when we brought Smudge in to help us out.”

Supporting organisations to evolve tools built in-house

Michael wanted to turn the software he'd created into something more sustainable.

He says, “It was an easy decision to go with Smudge. The first time you met us, you visited a simulation. The fact you were willing to come see the simulator used within the clinical environment at that early stage spoke volumes about your commitment.”

At Smudge we enjoy partnering with teams to evolve tools built in-house. We respect your work, you’re the industry experts, you know what you need. Smudge exists to solve problems, not reinvent a sound approach. Smudge’s MD Reuben Bijl noted “Michael had put so much thought into the simulator's user interface. It was a strong design. We saw where we could help by focusing on polishing technical performance and user experience.”

This approach was supported by Hartwell's feeback:

“One great thing about working with Smudge was that you didn't come in and redesign the interface from scratch. You recognised there'd been a lot of work to get to the point we were at, and people were happy. So, you focused on the tricky stuff we didn’t know how to do.”

Michael Sheedy
CEO, Hartwell Simulation
Watch our interview with Michael Sheedy here.

Effortless user experience takes a lot of effort

Michael and Dan struggled to get the simulator to communicate reliably with other devices.

The unseen experience of smooth connectivity is crucial in software design. When things work smoothly and intuitively this is often due to many small decisions behind the scenes. Great design is hard, at Smudge we have years of experience delivering unseen attention to detail to make the user experience seamless and intuitive. For the simulator, that took understanding and honing each use case and developing a single common connection, in this case via Bluetooth.

Michael says, “Working alongside Smudge, I've learned a lot of different approaches. You’ve taken the complicated tool I created and made a more elegant, simple solution so we can take the Hartwell Simulator to the next level.”

Get your tech into the hands of medical professionals

If you have a game changing idea for technology to empower the medical community, talk to us. We’ve extensive experience in health tech, and we’d love to help solve your problems.