Brace packaging | 2022-2023

Designer: PDR, Cardiff, United Kingdom
Manufacturer: R&D Surgical Ltd, Cardiff, United Kingdom

Pectus carinatum affects millions of children globally. Its treatment involves extended compression of the breastbone to correct alignment. The Brace is a revolutionary design that replaces old, metal, uncomfortable, and stigmatizing devices with a new approach. This new packaging is a fundamental part of a fresh user experience and clinical care approach for teenage patients. It goes beyond mere protection and delivery functionality, playing a central role in changing how the condition is treated within a healthcare system that is empathetic to teenage subjects. This results in better clinical outcomes.

Stigmatization and anxiety in teenage patients suffering from pectus carinatum are often amplified by frequent visits to clinical practice settings for compression device fitting and adjustment. The new Brace system takes a holistic approach that allows fitting, support, and downstream adjustment at home while maintaining effective clinical oversight. The fully recyclable packaging, received by standard postal delivery, supports a step-by-step user-centered patient journey and an elevated experience that caters to the needs of teenagers.

Brace bears little resemblance to traditional clinical experiences, dramatically reducing the load on the healthcare system. The form and aesthetics deliberately break away from traditional medical device aesthetics. The use of paper pulp and simple printing in a clean, straightforward form is more reflective of contemporary consumer packaging. It echoes the premium nature, responsible design, and innovative spirit of the Brace unit. With empathy for younger teenage patient needs at the heart of the design philosophy, Brace packaging is functional and supports a new and more appropriate clinical journey with full environmental responsibility.

Brace packaging supports personalized clinical treatment at home, specifically designed to reduce the anxiety associated with a stigmatizing teenage condition. Following an initial consultation and measurement, Brace arrives at the patient's home in a fully recyclable paper pulp package personalized to the individual. Instructions printed on the package facilitate a direct mobile phone connection with the clinician to support first-time fitting and use. Pre-marked for individual self-fitting and preset loads are undertaken in the privacy of a home setting. On completion, all pulp-based packaging is 100% single-stream recyclable.

The Brace packaging and service delivery approach is radically different from existing treatment pathways. It is designed with empathy towards teenage patients. Alternative treatments often involve frequent clinical setting visits and highly obstructive and stigmatizing devices, along with frequent clinical interventions and adjustments, which can exacerbate anxiety and stigmatization while placing considerable strain on healthcare services. There are no approaches to treatment aligned and sympathetic to teenage needs that take a simple, environmentally friendly, personalized, and home-based therapeutic treatment approach. The approach of Brace Packaging offers substantial benefits in improving the efficiency and effectiveness of specialized clinical resources, increasing the number of patients that can be seen by each clinician daily by an estimated 20%. Environmental benefits go beyond obvious fully recyclable single-stream packaging solutions to impacts in reduced journey volumes and energy use in treatment.