Case study: How research with Med-Surge nurses drove the development of a new nurse call system

Earlier research conducted by Research Partnership on Early Sense technology, as well as specific nurse call systems, had shown that while nurses generally welcome any technology that helps them, they resist suggestions that the technology could replace them or even perform a specific function better than they could. We leveraged this learning when discussing why certain messages were appealing while others were off-putting.

The solution
The first phase exposed 15 nurses to a bulletin board over the course of two days. The purpose of the bulletin board was to obtain unsolicited feedback about the product concept. It also gave them a chance to thoughtfully consider all the pros and cons of the system and the potential impact.

On the third day, these same nurses were invited into a central location where we conducted qualitative face-to-face interviews in a triad format.

The group setting enabled a highly productive ideation about expected benefits, hurdles, impact on current code response. The moderator was able to leverage feedback that had been obtained in the bulletin board to spark further conversation and understand a change in perceptions. From this, decision trees were developed and opportunities and threats to testing were identified.

The outputs
Incorporating the bulletin board enabled us to glean insights into messaging strategy for the new system. The triads provided robust ideation that would have been limited had we spoken to individual nurses. Using our insights, the client was able to develop an effective strategy which would maximise use of the system, and target nurses who would be most likely to be adopters of the new offering.