Philips AVENT, design opportunities for a go-to hospital strategy

Abstract

Philips offers a range of mother and child care products under the name of Philips AVENT. As Philips AVENT is the company’s brand for baby feeding, Philips Design sees a potential link with innovation opportunities for optimizing nutrition and partnering with families in the NICU and strengthening the business of Philips AVENT with a market expansion towards the hospital. The goal of this project is to identify opportunities and solutions for Philips AVENT to enter the hospital market, and it specifically focuses on parental involvement and optimizing nutrition in the NICU. Parental Involvement The attachment process between parents and their child is important for the wellbeing of both parties. The prematurity of the infant and the fact that it brings a period of hospitalization hamper the development of this bond. Designing interventions to support the establishment of a durable bond between parents and infant asks for a definition of bonding and an analysis of the process. Identification of positive influences and possible opportunities creates room for interventions. The NICU, the environment where the bonding process takes place, is a facilitator for parents to learn about their child. Comforting the parents gives them room to observe and learn. The NICU-nurses are an important precondition in the parent-infant attachment process. They educate, show, involve and support the parents in their journey from birth to discharge. The nurses need the knowledge, knowhow and time to focus on the emotional and psychological needs of parents in this process. The NICU needs to be designed to facilitate the parents to spend time on the bedside of their child and gradually develop their skills. Optimizing Nutrition Nutrition is an important part of care. It is necessary for the infant to grow and develop, and as it develops, its nutritional needs change. With every new method of feeding, the nutrition changes, the tasks for the staff changes and the role of the parents changes. Technological inventions serve the needs of the staff to feed the baby, put the parents are an often forgotton subject of research for innovation. Even despite their important role, especially of the mother. Breast pumping has always been subject of innovation, but their role in optimizing nutrition is more than that. Design direction 1: Education & training The design direction education & training is based on the insights from parental involvement and the issues that were gathered during the workshop with the NICU staff. The role that Philips AVENT can take with this design direction is the role of the guiding hand for the parents and the staff. Parents have no knowledge or experience most of the time they enter the NICU. There is a need for educating support to assist and train parents of ill, hospitalized preterm infants. Nurses are in a powerful position to influence parents’ ability to cope with stressors and to parent effectively. Design direction 2: Parental support & motivation The design direction parental support & motivation focusses on all the issues that parents have during their dilemma of home versus hospital when their child is hospitalized. It focusses on developing solutions for care while not being together, the emotions that come with separation of mother/father and child, the issues that the logistics of travelling between different contexts brings and the support for the activities that parents can and have to perform in the first months of the life of their child. The role of Philips AVENT in this design direction is the role of the bridge between hospital and home. Facilitating the parents when they are in the NICU, and supporting them with communication tools, webcams or other equipment to feel involved when they are at home are opportunities to support parents during this period. Design direction 3: Developmental support of the baby The design direction of developmental support of the baby focusses on the technological innovation possibilities to support and stimulate the natural development of a premature infant. The competitive advantage that Philips AVENT can achieve with this can give its hospital market strategy a valuable boost. The strategy for Philips AVENT 1. Philips AVENT has to deliver the highest technological standards to compete with established brands. This applies to the development of similar products, such as a professional breast pump, but it is also applicable on the introduction of technology that is new to the NICU market. 2. Philips AVENT has to maintain the unity in their product portfolio and increase the interchangeability of their products. They have to show the connection between different contexts, activities and their products to clarify the value of their propositions. And by designing the context of their propositions as well, the value for the users will increase. The two different contexts of hospital and home can become connected through Philips AVENT product propositions. Keen for the strategy of Philips AVENT must not be the endorsement of a specific product, but the endorsement of an activity that has to be performed. 3. Philips AVENT has to distinguish itself from its competitors with the design of their products. The current offer of consumer products in the hospital market is designed for the hospital. When Philips AVENT designs its products with a look that is more appealing to the consumer, it will differentiate the product from its competitors and add value to the context of the NICU as well. The NICU is a place where parents and children should feel at home. The design of the new propositions can contribute to this feeling. 4. With their product propositions for the NICU market, Philips AVENT has to focus on the combination of physical wellbeing and mental wellbeing. This will add new features and requirements to their product propositions, but it will fulfill the needs of the NICU stakeholders and stimulate the unity in the product portfolio of Philips AVENT. Philips AVENT, for the best start in life.