Needs finding is really about exploration.
It’s really about going out there and seeing where the problems are.
I would say any innovator who’s going into needs finding, needs to go in with a very
open mind and open eyes and open ears.
The key steps to finding a good need is really to observe it first hand.
You can’t just do secondary research, like reading from the literature or papers.
It’s not gonna work.
You have to actually be on the scene.
We spent four weeks doing our observations.
We did our clinical observations in all different kinds of settings.
We first went to the operating room because that’s always the most interesting place,
especially for me because I’m a surgeon.
I’m a mechanical engineer, I’ve never seen surgeries.
I was actually afraid that I’ll be grossed out.We observed treatment of patients in the
emergency department, where they were brought in, trauma patients brought in.
We went to dialysis centers because we were doing nephrology.
We went to the ward.
We accompanied the team on morning rounds.
We found out that there were a lot of needs happening in the clinic.
Personally I like the clinic better ‘cause I could actually see the patient and talk
to the patient.
In surgery, the patient’s usually out.
Learned a lot about how inefficient health-care delivery is and as a consumer of healthcare
you’re very often oblivious to what actually happens behind those closed doors.
The most challenging thing was not knowing at all what was going on sometimes.
You have to find the right balance between asking questions and also just kinda soaking
it all in.
In terms of the stakeholders we spoke with, initially it was the doctors.
We tried to set up appointments with them and met extensively with them, but realized
a lot of decisions get made outside of doctor’s offices.
Oftentimes, the doctors are sort of the captain of the ship, but they don’t necessarily
know all the little things that might be going wrong.
So met with the residents.
Met with nurses and learned that there are probably 10-15 different kinds of nurses and
each one has a very different opinion.
We met with hospital administrators.
People making decisions about purchasing products for the hospital.
We talked to the janitor and see what the problems were cleaning up the OR, things like
that….
Remember that for patients and providers both, what they think may not be the same as what
they say, and for sure what they say is not the same as what they do.
So, don't just interview.
Get in and observe.
Once you have observations listed, you try to see what all problems in that observation
are.
So in one observation, there could be many problems.
converting an observation into a need involves a lot of empathy where you need to identify
the pin point.
Theoretically, a good needs statement has a very clearly defined problem, a very clearly
defined population, and a clearly defined outcome.
the nuts and bolts of putting these need statements together, it’s actually not so easy.
When crafting need statements I think we start out with really crude observations.
We wouldn’t put a lot of thought into the who and the outcomes As we started to further
refine and validate some of those problems we started understanding the problem, including
who the stakeholders were.
What change we were trying to make within the system.
The need statement process is iterative.
You should expect it to actually last a long time as you learn more information and do
more diligence in the area.
If there's one thing to know about the biodesign process, here's the mantra: a well characterized
need, is the DNA of a good invention, so what you are doing in Stage 1 collecting those
needs, is critical, it's the start of getting that one good need that's going to lead to
a great innovation.