Team:NYU New York/Human Practices
Human Practices
In order to learn about the effects of diagnostic tests in patient’s lives and to learn about patient needs to implement into the design, the team conducted outreach to both medical and retail professionals as well as the general public, which would be potential consumers.
Medical and Retail Sector
To reach the medical and retail sector, the team conducted interviews with different pharmacists around New York City. This helped gauge customer interest, how to get the product into the hands of consumers, and product viability. When asked about patient flu concern, responses indicated that many customers come into pharmacies concerned with flu, but recently COVID has been a larger issue.
“...The flu is definitely a concern for people that visit the pharmacy, especially during flu season.”
CVS Mulberry St. Pharmacist
“Right now, COVID is the primary concern, but during flu season it is definitely a concern.”
Walgreens Court St. Pharmacist
According to two pharmacists, many people take preventive action for the flu. When asked how many people come in for flu shots these were the responses:
“A very large number of people come into the pharmacy for flu shots during flu season. We get around 300 people in a week.”
CVS Mulberry St. Pharmacist
“We have about 80 people that come to get flu shots everyday.”
CVS Henry St. Pharmacist
The team also asked about the popularity of at-home diagnostic tests within pharmacies to learn about consumer interest in the product type. This question received the following responses:
“Because of the pandemic, the COVID test is particularly in demand. I think people are likely to purchase a flu diagnostic device if they see it in store.”
CVS Mulberry St. Pharmacist
The team also asked for pharmacist opinions on whether having an at-home flu diagnostic test would increase the likelihood that people are diagnosed and therefore help flu prevention efforts and public health efforts over time, leading to a decrease of patient load in hospitals. This question was included to gauge the need for the product in development and whether it would positively impact the field. There was a general consensus that it would help flu prevention and public health efforts over time as long as the test was accurate.
When asked what is an important feature the diagnostic tests should have, there was a consensus that the test needed to be easy to use and reliable.
In response to this concern, the hardware design for the device has a simplistic design. Other features included are clear, step-by-step instructions for the product detailed in the implementation section. This also ensures correct user manipulation, which is a concern the team learned about through the survey sent to the general public.
The step-by-step instructions contain the following steps:
- Remove cap
- Fill dropper with a saliva sample
- Squeeze the bulb into the test site
- Replace cap
- Push top button
- Wait for results
In terms of reliability, the team’s hope is that outsourcing the cell free environment will allow for high quality and reliable testing. The solution placed on the top portion of the hardware is a simple mixture, which is easily repeatable. Manufacturing with a medical device company will ensure both high quality and sterile devices.
To reach the general public, the team put together a survey gauging interest in the Flutec device as well as potential consumer habits around the flu season. In order to get a wide range of data, the survey was distributed to a wide range of volunteers of different ages, nationalities, and economic situations. The team was thrilled by the number of responses partially in part to the international iGEM community. Around 80% of those surveyed said that they would be interested in an at home flu test as shown in Figure 1. Around the same amount responded that they would use Flutec instead of going to the doctor’s office as seen in Figure 2. This is a promising result since Massachusetts has promoted a “Test and Stay” policy for at home testing of the Coronavirus. A similar approach to Influenza A can cut down on transmission, which is especially important during such a dire time for public health. As shown in Figure 3, around 95% of those surveyed said that they would likely get this test for another who has limited access to healthcare. These categories include the elderly, those who are immune compromised, and young people in school. This presents a strong case for business facing sales as well as consumer facing. The plan of outsourcing production will allow for schools, nursing homes, and college health centers to buy these tests in bulk at lower prices to give access to those who are most vulnerable. These results also address concerns about a need for ease in the test as shown in the yellow response in Figure 1.
We collaborated with NYU London in the use of their software, Toehold Tools, to aid in the design of our project and held a brainstorm session. Our projects aligned because their software analyzed toehold switches which we are using for our project. We were able to discuss what the software does, how it applies to our team, and what feedback we had for them. Their software details the specificity of toehold switch triggers which can be applied to other iGEM projects. We were happy to collaborate with them and look forward to seeing how Toehold Tools aids future teams.
