Why Medtech Should Retire The "One-Size-Fits-All" Mindset
By Ahmed Hessam, founder, OSAA Innovation
Women’s History Month is a time to celebrate progress, but for those of us in medical technology, it must also be a time of reckoning. While women represent 50% of the global population, a silent, systemic bias in medtech design continues to create a public health crisis. In clinical settings, women are too often dismissed, misdiagnosed, or subjected to the implicit biases of a system not built for them.
Closing the gender health gap is more than a social imperative; it is a $1 trillion economic opportunity by 2040. To capture it, we must stop treating women as "small men" and start designing for the real world.
The Patient One-Third Reality: A Data Crisis
The roots of the gender health gap are buried in a lack of representative data. Historically, women were excluded from clinical trials due to the "complexity" of hormonal cycles. Even today, the disparity is staggering: a review of over 195 medical device trials showed that women make up only one-third (33%) of participants. For high-risk implants like pacemakers and stents, that number drops even lower to 29%.
When medical design fails to account for female-specific data, the industry often resorts to a dangerous shortcut: scaling down men’s measurements by 30% to 40% to "estimate" women’s requirements, which automatically ignores the fundamental variations in hand anatomy, reach, and center of gravity. However, estimating a patient’s needs is not design — it is a risk.
A Profession In Transition
The urgency for inclusive design is also underscored by a major demographic shift within healthcare.
In 2025, for the first time in history, women made up the majority of doctors in the U.K. Globally, women already comprise nearly 70% of the healthcare workforce and the vast majority of the nursing profession.
We are witnessing a profession in transition, yet the tools these professionals use remain rooted in the 1970s. Since IV treatment is one of the most traditional responsibilities of nursing personnel — provided to 90% of hospitalized patients — the medical devices must keep pace with clinicians. Yet, for 75% of nurses, mobilization is the biggest challenge while using a traditional IV pole. This data highlights a systemic failure to support the very people who power our health systems.
And as we face a global nursing shortage — with estimates suggesting a gap of up to 450,000 nurses in the U.S. alone — we cannot afford to ignore the physical toll of poorly designed equipment. When we provide smarter, inclusive solutions, we aren't just helping the patient; we are protecting the longevity of the healthcare workforce. We are allowing nurses to focus on high-value, human-to-human care rather than wrestling with cumbersome medical equipment.
The Infusion Barrier: Where Design Hits The Bedside
In infusion therapy specifically, the habit of assuming an “average” patient has created a physical barrier to healing.
1. The Ergonomic Mobility Gap
Modern infusion therapy is moving toward early ambulation — the gold standard of recovery. Walking as soon as possible after surgery prevents life-threatening complications like DVT (blood clots) and pneumonia. However, the majority of IV poles are designed based on male height and a higher center of gravity. Because women generally have a different reach zone and lower center of gravity, traditional top-heavy poles often feel unstable. When a device is poorly balanced, we aren't just failing at ergonomics; we are actively stalling a woman's recovery.
Removing this physical burden requires a fundamental redesign of the existing IV equipment. By replacing the cumbersome pole with a lightweight, wearable infusion pump that can be attached to a wheelchair or worn as a backpack we make sure that patients of every physical stature and age group are fully engaged in the early mobilization routines and experience the utmost safety through the process.
2. Physical Strain on the Caregiver
Inclusive design isn't just for the patient; it's for the caregiver as well. The nursing profession is approximately 90% female, yet the equipment they use often requires push-pull forces that exceed biomechanical thresholds for the female workforce. Maneuvering a fully loaded traditional IV pole across carpeted hospital floors requires significant upper-body strength. When medtech isn't inclusive for the needs of all demographics, it accelerates physical injury and nurse burnout.
3. Sex-Disaggregated Data in the IoMT
As infusion therapy moves into the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) and connectivity, the gender gap risks being coded into the software. Historically, only 14% of medical device studies included sex as a key outcome measure. If a smart infusion pump uses algorithms to predict patient needs based primarily on male data, it may miss subtle physiological triggers. Women often metabolize drugs differently due to variations in body fat percentage and hormonal cycles. Connectivity is only smart if the data driving it is inclusive.
The New Standard For Excellence
The one-size-fits-all mindset has dominated medtech for decades because it was convenient for manufacturing, not because it was effective for care. And now is the time for the sector to transition away from this default model.
We are building for the reality of the infusion treatment at the ward and the home. Therefore, understanding the problem is only the first step. To fix the situation, we must move beyond assumptions and integrate inclusivity directly into existing quality and regulatory systems.
By designing for the real-world diversity of human physiology, we ensure that infusion therapy is truly mobile, safe, and accessible for everyone — regardless of gender, ethnicity, or physical stature. Inclusive design in healthcare is no longer a nice to have. It is the new standard for medical excellence.
About The Author:
Ahmed Hessam is CEO and founder of OSAA Innovation, a Danish medtech company specializing in developing IV treatment solutions. Hessam pursued an industrial designer degree from the Zealand Academy of Technologies and Business (Denmark).