emergency stretcher
The founder of Meditech 4 Sports wanted to improve the way athletes with lower limb injuries are carried to safety for medical attention.
The importance of obtaining consent and the use of appropriate carrying methods for athletes with lower limb injuries in ball sports and gymnastics was the priority.
Duration
1 year
industry
expertise
Recognition
Good Design Award
Our client’s idea was to develop a better way of carrying young injured athletes to safety using the two-person carry. In the early stages of development, it became clear that the need for a biomechanically designed stretcher went beyond sport – to include use by rescuers in emergency services, military and law enforcement, healthcare and educational contexts.
The portable emergency stretcher has been adopted by sporting leagues, private corporations, and law enforcement groups. It deploys in seconds to easily transport injured people to safety as quickly as possible without causing injury to both the injured and rescuers.
We worked with Meditech 4 Sport to design and engineer the emergency stretcher to make it intuitive and easy to use. The format is simple, safe and fast to deploy – taking up much less space than a traditional medical stretcher.
Working with a scientifically proven weight distribution system, our team detailed the ergonomic design to make the stretcher safe and easy to use for everyone involved.
We engineered the stretcher to distribute the weight of an injured person across its flexible and strong structure. This prevents rescuers from injuring themselves, and keeps patients safe. Weighing less than 800g, the stretcher is easily worn by a rescuer and deployed in seconds.
The stretcher is made from strong, engineered textiles. The design is easily adjusted to fit a wide range of body shapes and sizes. The shoulder straps are padded and a large, comfortable seat carries an injured person safely. Grab handles on either side of the ‘seat’ are biomechanically designed and located to ensure patient safety.
Our design team developed multiple prototypes and conducted detailed user testing, to check and refine safe, rapid deployment and reliability for patients and carriers.
The emergency stretcher folds up to a compact size and is stored in a small portable pouch that can be worn over a shoulder or kept on standby with a first aid kit.
