AI Logic Of Care: Design for future medical care and premises for upgrading smart bandages for diabetic chronic wounds

Prototypes occupy an important place in the development of new products and are a well-established form of investigation in today’s design practices. This paper focuses on helping future designers in the development process of Smart Bandages (SBs) prototyping for treatment and monitoring of diabetic chronic wounds (DCWs). Adopting a perspective of design as an intermediary between different stakeholders and embracing an interdisciplinary approach, this investigation demonstrates the complexity of innovation aspects in medical contexts and the need for new insights and conceptual frameworks to support medical practice. The study introduces the concept of “AI logic of care” to advance an approach that combines Annemarie Mol’s “logic of care” and AI tools prospects. The investigation brings into discussion George Canguilhem’s work and supports a medical rationality that encourages experimentation, but also advises carefulness and modesty in the decision-making process. Long-term observation, experience and experimentation are key concepts encountered also in Mol’s “logic of care” perspective. In both cases, it is about innovation; it is about the relationship between technology and care. As an emerging, inclusive, and interdisciplinary approach to prototyping, the “AI logic of care”, which acknowledges the lack of a “care-centred design” in the research related to smart bandages, disentangles the complexity of innovation processes in medicine and the incorporation of AI in healthcare as a tool to strengthen the professional-patient relationship as opposed to the existing telemedicine format of the primary contact. The intention, as well as the hope, is to reconnect the fragmented research context of smart bandage prototyping for the treatment and control of chronic wounds. As one of the major medical issues that involve constant monitorisation, DCWs are the centre of interest to several stakeholders. From patients, caregivers, and medical services providers involved in their monitoring and treatment to engineers, material scientists, and designers involved in the products used to treat them. Smart Bandages are the starting point of reflection on the nature of prototyping and the place of care in the current design processes for medical products. Moreover, by assessing the logic of AI care in the development of these devices, the present article can offer insights into how user-centred design practices are run nowadays, as well as how they could be done in the near future.

Récupéré en direct depuis OpenAlex et désinversé. Les résumés ne sont pas conservés dans cette base de données : les index inversés représentent 8,6 Go des 9,3 Go de texte de la base, et le serveur dispose de 13 Go libres.