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Boston Scientific · AutoElite Console

From Complexity to Clarity in Vascular Surgery

Designing a touchscreen interface for a surgical thrombectomy device. A confusing label or missed alert isn't a UX problem, it's a patient safety issue.

Workflow Demo

See the AutoElite Console in action

Watch a full procedure flow: from setup and catheter priming through Power Pulse, dwell timing, and Thrombectomy, to see how the interface guides the technologist step by step.

The guided setup flow: from pump insertion through catheter priming, the interface walks the technologist through each physical step.

Tutorials
History
Settings
Maintenance

Press START or insert pump set to start a new procedure

••• Solent Proxi
Setup step 1: Insert pump set Setup step 2: Align waste tubing Setup step 3: Connect fluid

Select Mode

Thrombectomy

Thrombectomy

💧

Switch fluid to SALINE

Power Pulse

Power Pulse

💧

Switch to physician-specified fluid

••• Solent Proxi
Thrombectomy
0
sec
0
cc
Power Pulse
48
sec
48
cc

Total Run Time

+
48
sec
240 sec
with blood flow480 sec
without blood flow
More Info
•••
Solent Proxi
Thrombectomy

Dwell Time

00:00
minsec

Include time elapsed since foot pedal released

•••
Solent Proxi
-->
My Role
Product Designer via Insight Product Development
Client
Boston Scientific
Platform
Embedded touchscreen medical device
With
Human factors engineers, device engineering
01

The Problem

A device that left its operator guessing

The AngioJet is a peripheral thrombectomy device that removes blood clots via lytic delivery and active aspiration. In the OR, a cardiovascular technologist operates the console while a surgeon directs from the sterile field.

The existing device gave them a small LCD, six hardware buttons, and no workflow guidance. Techs ran procedures from memory. The interface did nothing to support the sequence.

Two users, one screen, opposite needs

The tech operates up close: hands on, decisions fast, attention split between screen and surgeon. The surgeon monitors from across the room, glancing, interpreting, directing.

Every screen had to serve precise hands-on control for the tech while remaining instantly readable from two meters away. No mode switching. No separate views.

Before: AngioJet Ultra

Small LCD, 6 status icons, segment-display timer, 3 physical buttons. No guided workflow.

AngioJet Ultra existing LCD interface

After: AutoElite Console

Full touchscreen GUI. Guided procedure flow. Real-time data hierarchy designed for both users.

AutoElite redesigned touchscreen interface

The Solution

Follow the procedure, not the device

Most medical device GUIs organize around features and settings menus. We organized ours around the clinical workflow itself:

  1. Setup
  2. Catheter priming
  3. Mode selection
  4. Active run
  5. End

Each phase maps to a single, locked screen state. The interface always tells you where you are and what comes next. Each screen shows only what's relevant at that moment: no reaching ahead, no buried steps. In a high-stakes environment, a narrower interface is a safer one.

3-panel guided setup flow: the interface walks the technologist through each physical step

9 live data points, 7 of them timers, and a patent

Power Pulse mode introduced a lytic delivery phase before active aspiration, adding a second procedure mode and significantly increasing the cognitive load mid-procedure. The run screen tracked both modes simultaneously: individual timers, fluid volumes, a combined total, and a safety progress bar with two contextual thresholds at 240 and 480 seconds depending on blood flow.

The dual-mode timer display was distinctive enough that Boston Scientific filed a US patent application on it. The color-coded mode indicators, hierarchical time tracking, and contextual safety progress bar were all cited as core elements of the invention.

Run screen: dual-mode timer with safety progress bar and callout annotations

Training built into the product, not bolted on

The tutorial menu standardizes how procedure information reaches the team. Every tech learns from the same source: the actual interface, on the actual device, in the context where they'll use it. Learning in context is faster, sticks better, and reduces the gap between training and doing.

It's also always current and always at hand. No manuals to track down, no version uncertainty. In a regulated clinical environment where teams need to act fast and act right, having authoritative guidance embedded in the device is more than a convenience.

Tutorial step 1: setup guidance Tutorial step 2 Tutorial step 3 Tutorial step 4 Tutorial step 5

The Prototype

Explore the guided flow

Click through the screens to experience the full procedure: setup through mode selection, active thrombectomy, and dwell timing.

Start → Setup → Run → End
Click the menu buttons to navigate

Outcomes

Zero task errors in final-round usability testing, across both user types.

Both user types completed every task correctly on first attempt, meeting the FDA human factors benchmark. Technologists who'd run the old device for years said it felt "like it was designed for how the procedure actually works."

Class III PMA
Highest-risk FDA device category — P980037S094, approved May 2025
US Patent Filed
Run screen timer pattern — US 20240277422

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