Switzerland (Head Quarters)

IDR Medical Switzerland
Austrasse 95, CH-4051 Basel, Switzerland
T: +41 (0) 61 535 1109

UK

IDR Medical UK
Unit 104 Eagle Tower, Eagle Tower
Montpellier Drive, Cheltenham, GL50 1TA
T: +44 (0) 1242 696 790

USA

IDR Medical North America
225 Franklin Street, 26th Floor
Boston, Massachusetts 02110, USA
T: +1 (0) 617.275.4465

The Client & Business Challenge:

Our client was a market leader in POC devices that measured transcutaneous bilirubin (TCB) levels in neonates.

Aware that the rise of jaundice in neonatal patients would increase the demand for non-invasive and reliable techniques for measuring bilirubin levels, our client was considering what new features their next generation POC device would need to have.

They also had concerns relating to their current market share, which included the threat to their dominant share in this TCB market (particularly in the US) by competitors. Moreover, they were also aware that measuring TCB use was less popular in Europe vs. US, and previous research suggested that European markets favoured measuring TsB instead. They wanted to better understand why TCB was less popular in Europe and if there was opportunity for their share to increase in this market.

We were commissioned to carry out a workflow analysis and concept testing of a next generation POC device.

Our Approach:

Our project goal was twofold: understand the workflow of bilirubin testing in various markets and define the requirements for the next generation TCB meter.

We conducted 66 in-depth telephone interviews across the US, UK, Germany and Australia.   Respondent groups included: Neonatologists and nurses from the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and Well-Baby Units, Laboratory Managers or Point of care Coordinators and Purchasing Managers. All respondents were recruited from established medical panels in each country and had to meet a series of screening criteria.

Data from the various interviews was consolidated, analysed and structured into a multi-country, highly detailed report and management summary. It included comprehensive analysis, charts and a selection of verbatim for the interviews which addressed the project objectives. We also developed a set of conclusions and recommendations in line with the overall project goal, specifically focusing on the optimal set of attributes which would drive the success of the next generation device.

The Results and Impact:

The research enabled us to create a detailed workflow map for each market. Each map clearly showed the ‘typical’ route that hospitals will take to screen for elevated bilirubin (i.e. TCB or TsB). The client was able to better understand their current share in each market and to decide where to focus their efforts to drive share.

Secondly, our conclusions also focused on current perceptions of TCB testing. The client’s original assumptions regarding the concern users had about TCB testing were confirmed, therefore a key recommendation we made was to either to fix the problem in the current device or position it differently.

The project provided the necessary insights to determine the feature profile of their next generation POC device, identified priority innovations research and development teams needed to focus on to drive share and address the major pain points throughout the workflow.