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Case study: How interactive workshops supported the development of an automated compounding system

The challenge
Our client was developing a new to market automated compounding system for the TPN market.
Some of the features were extremely costly and the client wanted to ensure that they were truly meeting a need instead of a “nice to have”
Research was therefore required to assess at minimum what customers needed vs. what they desired and the price point they would be willing to pay.

The solution
  • Phase 1:
Half day workshops were conducted with 5 groups of 4-5 hospital pharmacists whose duties included hospital compounding.
Interactive discussion techniques allowed respondents to brainstorm and feed back on unmet needs and pain points that existed with current automated compounding.
Interactive workshops supported the development of an automated compounding system- Jun 18
Interactive workshops supported the development of an automated compounding system- Jun 18

The challenge
Our client was developing a new to market automated compounding system for the TPN market.
Some of the features were extremely costly and the client wanted to ensure that they were truly meeting a need instead of a “nice to have”
Research was therefore required to assess at minimum what customers needed vs. what they desired and the price point they would be willing to pay.

The solution
  • Phase 1:
Half day workshops were conducted with 5 groups of 4-5 hospital pharmacists whose duties included hospital compounding.
Interactive discussion techniques allowed respondents to brainstorm and feed back on unmet needs and pain points that existed with current automated compounding.

Interactive discussion techniques allowed respondents to brainstorm and feed back on unmet needs and pain points that existed with current automated compounding.
From there, we conducted an ideation session where they built their ideal compounding solution. RP introduced the client’s features via large poster boards as well as prototypes, however, every “feature” had a cost associated and the pharmacists were forced to make trade-offs to obtain any new feature. The groups allowed the pharmacists to build off each other's ideas as well as challenge the status quo.

  • Phase 2

Web-ex telephone interviews with hospital purchasers, pharmacy directors were undertaken to determine the cost of the system proposed for the market in year one.

The outputs
We provided strategic recommendations focusing on precisely what pharmacists were most likely to trade-off to obtain faster compounding time (within 4 minutes) and reporting on calibration activities, pumping accuracy and individualized patient formulas.

Surprisingly, the number of device connections was deemed as a “nice to have” and the number of SKUs of  EVA bags were fewer than anticipated. As a result the client was able to offer a lower priced system, but highly profitable, maximizing share during Y1 launch. 

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