philips efficia baby warmer by Philips Design from india

Background
The world’s largest democracy and home to 17 percent of world population, India witnessed 25.3 million births in 2012. Of these 3.1 million (approx. 12%) were premature births and another 7.5 million (or 30 %) infants were classified as Low Birth Weight. Unfortunately close to a million of these infants died because of limited access to quality and affordable thermoregulation and other neonatal care services. For all premature as well as low birth infants, the ability to maintain a stable body temperature is a big challenge owing to big surface area to volume ratio. Therefore, a controlled heated and caring environment is extremely critical to support the baby in conserving energy thus ensuring healthy growth and development of the new born. The New Philips Efficia warmer has been developed especially for emerging markets of Brazil, India, Russia and China (BRIC) for providing quality, dependable and affordable care to the newborns.

The proposition
Using a people centric design approach, coupled with understanding of clinical use case scenarios and insights into local country specific needs, the new Efficia warmer has been designed to perfectly meet the critical requirements of safety, usability and reliability of thermoregulation devices within the Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICU) and Labour and Delivery (L&D) rooms. An open care thermoregulation system, the Efficia warmer intelligently monitors baby’s body temperature, ambient air temp. and other critical parameters while providing smart temperature regulation for the baby thus preventing under or overheating. The device provides the baby a cozy, comfortable and safe space to rest while supporting multiple body positions (supine, prone, lateral, elevated , flat ) etc to support various therapies that are delivered to an infant in the care environment (such as oxygen, IV, ventilation, gavage feeding, positioning etc). Alongside its core functionality of thermoregulation, the warmer also supports both overhead and underbed phototherapy (critical therapy for treatment of neonatal jaundice) while minimizing disruptions to the baby and enhancing the care provided by the clinician.

The design
The design of the product radiates human values and inspires confidence in product performance through sense of stability, accessibility, warmth and cleanliness. Elegant proportions and symmetry gives a quality appearance to the product. Smooth surfaces, minimal parting lines and clean forms conceal the technical complexity of the device, allowing the caregiver to focus upon important operating elements. At the same time the soft appearance assures the anxious parents that their new born is safe and comfortable.

The shape of the warmer supports application and workflow. The slim hood seamlessly grows out of the vertical pillar and is optimized for stability and functionality. Visual volume of the bed assembly, comprising the side walls and the corner blocks gives solid and monolithic feel which inspires confidence in product performance. The bed has a transparent base and a transparent X-Ray tray underneath, to aid in underbed phototherapy procedure. A storage unit is provided below the bed which follows the main form language, making it as an integral part of the design. The inbuilt scoop handle, gives easy access to medicines and reports while minimizing dust collection areas. The stable base (shaped as reverse brackets) promises sturdiness and stability while providing unhindered access to the care giver for procedures, to the mother’s chair while nursing the baby and for other devices like overhead phototherapy units and mobile X-Ray machines.

The Experience
Following a people focused approach; the design takes into account the operability needs of caregivers in markets across demographics and cultures. The design allows for smooth, precise and silent height adjustment of the bed as per operating needs of the caregivers. This helps the caregivers to customize the device for various procedures and as per their preferences. A display cum control panel defines the main care giver zone and is inviting and trustworthy, thanks to its symmetrical layout and a well thought out clustering of the controls according to functionality. The icon based control panel is language independent (does not use any text) thus supporting universal interpretation for users in various regions. The device intelligently monitors the baby’s vital parameters and provides visual and auditory alerts to help in assessment process. The User Interface (UI) design helps the caregiver to focus on diagnosis by highlighting relevant information and taking noncritical things to background thus helping in correct decision making.
Keeping in mind the requirement of cleaning and disinfection in clinical devices, the device minimizes the use of screws and rivets to prevent dust accumulation. All subassemblies have been designed for easy and quick disassembly without the need for special tools.

Summary
Built on the philosophy of ‘people focused, healthcare simplified’, the Efficia range of warmers provide safe, reliable and quality healthcare to the newborns while addressing the needs of the caregivers with equal ease. The device bridges the gap between dependable but affordable healthcare services.