We spent most of our day today completing a design workshop. This was a super fun and interesting activity put together by Saioa. We were put into groups and given a design problem, where we had to create a potential solution. The different design problems were dignity during defecation, safe and efficient patient transfer, preventing bedsores, and preventing falling in patients. My group was assigned the problem of preventing bedsores. This was a super interesting problem because it is rarely considered, but a huge problem in hospitals. Bedsores are caused by sitting in one position for a long time, high amounts of pressure, increased temperature, and moisture. There are a couple solutions already available on the market including a smart sensor bed. This bed automatically adjusts the pressure to alleviate pressure in certain points, therefore helping to prevent bedsores. My group’s design solution was a hospital gown with wearable sensors incorporated to detect signs of bedsores. While my group focused on the temperature sensors, this technology has the potential to also incorporate moisture and pressure sensors. The hospital gown would have tiny sensors sewn into the breathable fabric that detect heightened temperature in certain points. These sensors would be spread across the body, but mainly concentrated in areas that typically develop bedsores. These areas are commonly the shoulder blades, tailbone, hips, buttocks, and heels. After these sensors recognize heightened temperature or other symptoms of bedsores, they send an alert to the nursing station. The nurses could then use more preventative care measures such as cooling systems, massages, and shifting of pressure, to prevent the bedsores in those spots. Overall, I am very happy with the solution my team created. It was a very interesting and engaging experience to go through the design process and present a solution, as well as see other group’s solutions.