SJM Merlin

St Jude Medical

Merlin® – Patient Care System

SJM MerlinSt. Jude Medical, a leading
developer of implanted cardiac rhythm management devices, partnered
with Insight to develop the successor to their aging device
programmer that clinicians considered too slow and too difficult to use. The goals for the effort were to achieve more than just a next generation design; St. Jude Medical’s aspirations were to create an
entirely new platform design that would enable flexibility and
maintain relevance over time in a constantly changing healthcare
environment.

“Working with Insight was a very positive experience and a highly collaborative effort. There was a mutual respect for skills on both sides and they acted as an extension of our own team.”
-Mike Lepp, Vice President of New Product Planning, St. Jude Medical Corporation

Understanding Users Worldwide

The development team took a global approach to solving the challenge, involving clinical users from North America, Western Europe, and Japan throughout the process to help define, evaluate, and validate design directions. Understanding all of the complexities inherent to device implant and follow-up workflows helped the team to generate robust design inputs and guided the process to ensure a world class end solution that provided an unparalleled user experience from both hardware and software perspectives.

SJM Merlin

Intuitive Design

SJM Merlin

The final design presented clinicians with an interface that recognized how they work and think. Enabling less advanced users without handcuffing experts, the new design was so effective that some institutions adopted it as the vehicle of choice for training new clinicians. Smart and thoughtful hardware design provided integrated storage for system peripherals, accommodated subsequent technology improvements (e.g. wireless telemetry for RF enabled implants), and supported a range of connectivity options for integrating with EMR systems. The Merlin® PCS has been cited by industry analysts as contributing to significant growth for St. Jude Medical in an otherwise flat pacemaker market.

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