Medical device design engineers hold in their hands the power to help transform people’s health. They have the ever-important job of designing medical devices that help people monitor, track, and adjust their health for the better. However, some design engineers may be making a mistake that can affect how an entire medical device functions: they could be reducing adhesive selection to an afterthought. This critical decision is too often left until device design is almost complete.
It is not the engineers’ fault, however, because there is often a misconception surrounding adhesives. Adhesives are largely seen as a tactical, simple material. They do not compute, store, or display data; nor do they power the device. They are purely used to stick one thing to another thing.