Wiklund Research & Design Inc.

BUSINESS PLANNING & TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT

The Urgent PC neuromodulation system from Uroplasty (Minnetonka, MN) uses percutaneous tibial nerve stimulation to help patients experiencing urinary incontinence achieve improved bladder control. The device delivers electrical stimulation to the patient via an electrical lead placed in the patient's ankle near the tibial nerve. This stimulus travels through the nerve pathway to the sacral nerve plexus, the nerves responsible for bladder control. Working as a human factors consultant to Minnetronix (St. Paul, MN), a contract design and manufacturing firm, (Concord, MA), developed the device's hardware and software user interfaces. The company's goal was to make the device comfortable, intuitive, and efficient to use. Wiklund kept the hardware interface simple and appealing by placing the controls in a logical arrangement within reach, and color coding and labeling them in language-independent, internationally standard ways. The company developed the final design by means of iterative user interface design, computer-based prototyping, and usability testing. The ergonomic, handheld device replaces one that looked more like an engineer's multimeter and provided less feedback regarding patient treatment progress.

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