The Ridiculous Importance of Medical Device Carrying Cases

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I don’t know about you, but I have yet to find the ideal carrying case for my diabetes gear – especially for my glucose meter that is the most basic of D-devices always at my side.

I often wonder: why isn’t case design a bigger deal for medical device manufacturers, or a bigger industry in its own right even?

Weeelll, you may be thinking: it’s just a shell to carry stuff in. It’s not essential to your well-being or condition management.

To that, I say: Pishah!

You do realize that iPhone cases are a HUGE industry – part of the $21 BILLION accessory market. When the device itself is clearly the thing, why do people spend so darn much money on COOL CASES?

Let’s talk about that for a minute:

How It Makes You Feel

What many people don’t realize is that just like you want an iPhone case that makes you feel good when you take it out, we want to feel good about doing diabetes stuff. In fact, I’d argue that it’s even more important in chronic disease care, which is of course something no one wants to have to mess with in the first place – so how great would it be to have a Paul Frank monkey or a Disney Small World theme, or 21+ other truly cool designs to choose from?

And it’s not just about having a trendy or fun motif. It’s about the placement of zippers and compartments, Velcro strips and side enclosures. The design needs to reflect that someone has actually lived with this thing for at least a few weeks, carrying it everywhere, pulling it in and out of a purse or pocket or backpack, and hopefully noticing the small things that make all the difference: do the zipper pulls tend to fall off after a short time? Does the mesh compartment tend to bulge too much, even with a small number of items inside? Do the stretchy straps actually accommodate a vial of glucose tabs? (many don’t!)

When the case looks like it was designed by some neutral third party (read: someone whose life does not depend on these devices), it makes us feel… well, like misunderstood ‘sick people’ whose needs are always defined in clinical terms.

It’s a Relationship, Silly

We have an intimate relationship with objects integral to our lives, like smartphones have become. They feel like an extension of ourselves. Every woman who carries a purse will understand this concept: the damn thing goes with you everywhere you go (bedroom, bathroom, beach, bar, etc.) so it’s keenly important how this ‘carry vessel’ looks, feels and functions. Handbags and purses are a $106 Billion industry, btw.

I’ll admit that when I think about using a new diabetes gadget or treatment, the first thing that comes to mind is: how will it feel to have this thing in my life?

I kid you not: I was one of the first diabetes blogger/advocates to get an individual briefing on Afrezza just as it hit the market. I was summoned to a hotel suite in San Francisco near Moscone Convention Center where the big annual ADA meeting was taking place. As the woman executive from Sanofi was gushing on and on to myself and a small group of colleagues about the superior kinetics of this new inhaled insulin, I just kept staring at the inhaler device and multiple cartridge sleeves on the glass table in front of us. When she finally paused for breath, I piped up:

“OK, so what does the carry case look like? How will patients be schlepping this around?”

Blank stares all around…

In part I suppose because this seemed like such a trivial question. But also because they had never considered the “I’ll have to carry this with me EVERYWHERE” factor that comes with committing to any new diabetes treatment.

“Errr, it’s very compact to carry… we don’t have a case yet. But we expect third parties to start offering those soon.”

Yeah, right. What Sanofi eventually came up with is a small blue insulated pouch that closes with Velcro.

It’s ultra-minimalistic, looks OK, and fits well in your purse or pocket. BUT it doesn’t hold many cartridges so you run out quickly and have to remember to refill it daily at home. AND there’s no way to organize the cartridges, so I find that I basically have to dump out the entire contents of the pouch and sift through everything before each dose. So much for discreet!

As far as I can tell, none of the popular third-party diabetes case makers (including Pumpwear, Tallygear, Myabetic and Sugar Medical Supply) have designed a case for Afrezza yet. Perhaps because they tend to focus the needs of type 1’s (the lesser market for Afrezza)?

Think Disposal, Please

Over the years, I’ve collected quite a pile of cases from both device manufacturers and third-party designers. Some are better than others, of course.

Many are just plain black and boxy. In their quest for compact, they’ve completely overlooked the fact that aesthetics matter (do these make you feel good?):

Some are quite colorful, but have gone awry on the functionality (note funky non-secure pocket for meter and weird inside flaps that get in the way):

Some are delightfully designed for special occasions, but too big to double as a ‘regular wallet,’ and too small on D-supply capacity to rely on for everyday use:

One universal truth seems to be that they all have an inside mesh pocket of some sort:

BUT, virtually all lack a good dedicated compartment for USED TEST STRIPS.

I just don’t understand this.

Why has no one thought through the fact that beyond holding your meter, lancet and fresh strip vial in place, the most important feature a meter case could have would be a place to store the used strips? If you follow diabetes blogs at all, you’ll know how we love to gripe about the trail of test strips we all leave behind… because for God’s sake, not one diabetes case has a good spot for used strips!

Again, probably designed by someone who does not have diabetes and simply thinks, ‘they should throw that in the trash!’

Yes, eventually. But here’s some news: we’re not always standing next to a garbage can when we test. In fact, we’re often sitting down to a meal and don’t want to toss a gross used strip (with dried blood) onto a plate or anywhere visible.

In short, a good carry case is sort of ridiculously important.

Clearly, there’s no one-size-fits-all case design that’s going to make everyone happy. But here’s what I would say if someone asked me what case designers should focus on:

• Delight your audience. Aim to make them feel the way most people feel about Apple products.

• Live it. Make your employees wear and/or carry your case prototype around 24/7 for at least a full week. Have them take notes on what they like and don’t, no matter how small.

• Get practical. Have a really long look at the device and consumable supplies you’re designing for. What happens when a user has completed a task? How often might they need to refill something or dispose of something? Can your case help them with that as well?

Agreed, D-Peeps? Or have some of you already found Case Nirvana?

Disclaimer: Content created by the Diabetes Mine team. For more details click here.

Disclaimer

This content is created for Diabetes Mine, a consumer health blog focused on the diabetes community. The content is not medically reviewed and doesn"t adhere to Healthline"s editorial guidelines. For more information about Healthline"s partnership with Diabetes Mine, please click here.

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