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How to transform a perioperative nursing practice idea into an invention
NOVEMBER 1997, VOL 66, NO 5 PRACTICAL INNOVATIONS
How to transform a perioperative nursing practice idea into an invention
H
undreds, if not thousands, of nurses have ideas for new health care products; however, seeing these ideas become finished, marketed products is uncommon. The lack of transfer from concept to actual product is unfortunate because these ideas could improve patient care, increase safety for health care professionals, save time, and decrease costs-and also be profitable for the inventors and marketers. Bringing new products to market is not an easy process. Many potential inventors underestimate the effort required to transform ideas into successful products. Sometimes it takes years for an idea to become a brand name. This task is less daunting if you are familiar with the resources available to help bring products to market. The purpose of this article is to demonstrate how perioperative nurses’ ideas can be marketed successfully and, hopefully, used widely and appreciated by the health care industry. DOCUMENT YOUR IDEA The first step in the process is to document your idea. To do this, write a detailed account of your idea (eg, what it is, how it came to you). Use a comfortable format and include details that you think are important. Describe the product’s possible uses, who would benefit from the product, and the best production material. Include any information that you think will depict the product and its
application. If possible, sketch a prototype that clearly demonstrates the product’s appearance and function. It is not necessary to spend much money to document your idea or create a prototype of it. You do not need to have your idea copyrighted or notarized at this point. You should, however, ask a trusted friend or relative to review your documentation and sign a statement that he or she has witnessed the documentation. Having this wimess who can recall the essence of your invention and the date on which he or she read the description of it will be valuable if there is ever a dispute about the date or source of your invention’s inception. Some inventors who work on long-term projects document their ideas in bound notebooks with numbered pages and ask witnesses to sign these notebooks at regular intervals. TEST MARKET YOUR IDEA After you have documented your idea, it is time to test market the concept. This process does not have to be scientifically rigorous, difficult, or prolonged. The first step is to see what your colleagues think of the idea. As you survey your colleagues, WILLIAM 0. PITTMAN, BS, is vice president of marketing, DeRoyal Industries, Inc, Powell, Tenn. 908 AORN JOURNAL
document their answers. The more opinions you get, the better, so gather as many reactions-both pro and con-as possible. A word of caution: The goal of test marketing your idea is not to sell it to the colleagues from whom you are soliciting opinions. Present the idea neutrally so you can determine if others recognize the same clinical problem that you noted and if they believe your product would provide a viable solution to the problem. ANALYZE THE PRODUCT3 VALUE The next step is to analyze your product’s value and to demonstrate that value in terms of improved patient care, increased safety for health care professionals, or potential time and cost savings. Products and services that help create healthy patients and improve patient outcomes are in the greatest demand (ie, have the most value); however, health care administrators also are interested in ideas that reduce the cost of doing business. When you analyze your product’s value, study the process in which your product will be used (eg, patient transfers onto OR beds, surgical sponge counts). Mentally and physically walk through this process and evaluate how your product would affect people and resources from the time it was delivered to an OR suite until the time of its disposal. The process-oriented approach to estimating your product’s value
NOVEMBER 1997, VOL 66, NO 5
is embodied in concepts such as activity based costing (ABC), which allocates “cost drivers” (eg, supplies, labor, overhead) to specific activities or steps in the process. By using this process, you may be able to show that your product is valuable because it eliminates one or more cost drivers. For example, if your product is an $8 video camera drape that eliminates the $20 process of sterilizing the video camera, your product would be valuable because it would eliminate several cost drivers (eg, supplies, labor, equipment depreciation).
ESTIMATE THE PROFIT POTENTIAL Now is the time to determine if it is possible to manufacture your product and what its potential profit:cost ratio will be. Development costs can add up quickly, and you must be realistic about the potential market for your product. For example, if your product can be used in all surgical procedures, multiply the projected selling price by the number of surgical procedures performed annually to estimate the potential market for your product. After projecting how many units of your product would be needed each year, the next step is to consider the production process. Your goal is to produce a quality product in a timely manner. One option is to invest your personal time and money in the processes of patenting, manufacturing, obtaining regulatory clearance, selling, and distributing your product. With the increased regulation and consolidation of the health care industry, this approach is not feasible for many nurse inventors. A viable alternative is to form a partnership with an existing firm to manufacture and market your product.
POTENTIAL PARTNERS Make a list of companies that might be interested in your product. Most likely, you interact with representatives from these companies on a regular basis. Think of companies that produce products that are similar or complementary to yours. For example, a company that manufactures suction tips might be interested in a new suction tubing design. After you have created your list of potential partners, learn more about them. It is relatively easy to f i d a company to manufacture your product. The more difficult task is to find a f i i that can market and promote your product. Investigate companies’ strategic directions, values, and production capabilities as well as their marketing, advertising, promotion, and sales records. Most major companies have home pages on the Internet in addition to corporate brochures that are readily available; however, this type of information is designed to be promotional rather than objective. Ask your colleagues to identify the companies that they respect and that they believe would market your product effectively. CONTACT SOME COMPANIES Now that you have your “short list” of potential manufacturing and marketing partners, contact some of these companies. If your facility does business with some of these companies, talk to their representatives. Company representatives can provide names of product development people in their organizations. To protect yourself and your idea, do not mention specific details about your product when you talk with company representa909 AORN JOURNAL
tives; only discuss the benefits of your idea. Using the previous camera drape example, you would share with a representative that you have an idea for a product that would avoid having to sterilize video cameras. If you do not know any representatives, call companies and ask to speak with product managers or people responsible for new product development. Describe the general benefits of your idea, not its features or design characteristics. (If you contact a company and cannot locate a person responsible for new product development, delete this company’s name from your list of potential partners.) If a company product manager expresses interest in your idea and you think further discussion is warranted, immediately address the issue of protecting your rights as an inventor. The company product manager should offer to send you a standard confidentiality agreement. When you receive this agreement, ask a qualified patent attorney to review the agreement or to create one for you. After the agreement is signed by both parties, you can discuss specific features of your idea. A good confidentiality agreement should protect both your interest as the inventor and the company’s interests. This agreement prevents the company from profiting from your product or idea without your permission, thus allowing you to discuss your concept freely with the company as your potential marketing partner. The agreement also contains language that prevents you from suing the company for rights to products it is already developing. Most confidentiality agreements
NOVEMBER 1997, VOL 66, NO 5
limit your rights as the inventor to the protection afforded by patent, trademark, and copyright laws. WORK WITH A MARUETlNG PARTNER Meet the actual product manager or new products director who will be involved with your project’s development. These people travel frequently to research markets, test concepts, and conduct training seminars, so it may be possible to meet with this person in your hometown to minimize costs. Ask for a detailed marketing time line for your product. Most likely, the company will conduct a marketing opportunity analysis to determine your product’s viability and potential market. Although the product manager or new products director will be interested in hearing your test marketing results, the company will conduct its own research. After gathering feedback from potential customers, the company may decide it is necessary to modify your original concept. The next step is a presentation of your product’s desired features and benefits to the company’s manufacturing and research and development (R & D) departments. The R & I)personnel may determine how the product will be manufactured, and they will collaborate with personnel in the manufacturing and finance divisions to determine the cost of manufacturing your product. This cost is referred to by various terms (eg, standard cost, cost of goods sold, manufacturing cost). The product manager uses this information to determine your product’s potential profit contribution to the company. He or she
then presents a proposal to the company’s management group for approval. The management group members may request more modifications of your product and ask to have these changes resubmitted for approval. These steps
The greatest reward in transforming an idea into a viable product is to see it improve patient care. replicate-n the corporate level-the ones you already have taken in deciding to turn your idea into a product. The time lines of these various processes will vary depending on the complexity of your product and the company’s general production pace. Although these processes are time consuming, they build a firm foundation that can give your product a winning edge in a competitive market. Privately owned companies generally are more agile and move at a faster pace than publicly traded companies. Some companies also offer you the opportunity to participating in the manufacturing and marketing of your product. Regardless of the size or ownership of the company, you must feel comfortable with your role and the company’s ability to turn your idea into a product.
910 AORN JOURNAL
PROFITING FROM YOUR IDEA #en you begin negotiations with a company, you still own the rights to your product. #en the company’s analysis verifies the potential profitability of your product, you should negotiate rights to manufacture and market your product. The rights generally are negotiated in one of two ways. rn The company will buy all rights to your idea or product for a lump sum. m The company negotiates a licensing agreement whereby it pays you a royalty for each unit of your product that it sells. Regardless of the type of agreement, you must be straightforward when your discuss monetary values with the company. You also must realize that the company will incur significant costs in patenting your product, manufacturing your product, teaching sale representatives about your product, advertising your product, distributing your product, and providing troubleshooting services to customers who purchase and use your product. Frank, objective discussions will yield benefits for you and the company and help build a positive, long-term working relationship as your product is developed, manufactured, launched, sold, and refined. CONCLUSION Bringing a new product to market is quite an undertaking. The greatest reward is the gratification of seeing your idea transformed into a three-dimensional product that you and your colleagues can use to benefit the recipients of your care. A
How to transform a perioperative nursing practice idea into an invention
H
undreds, if not thousands, of nurses have ideas for new health care products; however, seeing these ideas become finished, marketed products is uncommon. The lack of transfer from concept to actual product is unfortunate because these ideas could improve patient care, increase safety for health care professionals, save time, and decrease costs-and also be profitable for the inventors and marketers. Bringing new products to market is not an easy process. Many potential inventors underestimate the effort required to transform ideas into successful products. Sometimes it takes years for an idea to become a brand name. This task is less daunting if you are familiar with the resources available to help bring products to market. The purpose of this article is to demonstrate how perioperative nurses’ ideas can be marketed successfully and, hopefully, used widely and appreciated by the health care industry. DOCUMENT YOUR IDEA The first step in the process is to document your idea. To do this, write a detailed account of your idea (eg, what it is, how it came to you). Use a comfortable format and include details that you think are important. Describe the product’s possible uses, who would benefit from the product, and the best production material. Include any information that you think will depict the product and its
application. If possible, sketch a prototype that clearly demonstrates the product’s appearance and function. It is not necessary to spend much money to document your idea or create a prototype of it. You do not need to have your idea copyrighted or notarized at this point. You should, however, ask a trusted friend or relative to review your documentation and sign a statement that he or she has witnessed the documentation. Having this wimess who can recall the essence of your invention and the date on which he or she read the description of it will be valuable if there is ever a dispute about the date or source of your invention’s inception. Some inventors who work on long-term projects document their ideas in bound notebooks with numbered pages and ask witnesses to sign these notebooks at regular intervals. TEST MARKET YOUR IDEA After you have documented your idea, it is time to test market the concept. This process does not have to be scientifically rigorous, difficult, or prolonged. The first step is to see what your colleagues think of the idea. As you survey your colleagues, WILLIAM 0. PITTMAN, BS, is vice president of marketing, DeRoyal Industries, Inc, Powell, Tenn. 908 AORN JOURNAL
document their answers. The more opinions you get, the better, so gather as many reactions-both pro and con-as possible. A word of caution: The goal of test marketing your idea is not to sell it to the colleagues from whom you are soliciting opinions. Present the idea neutrally so you can determine if others recognize the same clinical problem that you noted and if they believe your product would provide a viable solution to the problem. ANALYZE THE PRODUCT3 VALUE The next step is to analyze your product’s value and to demonstrate that value in terms of improved patient care, increased safety for health care professionals, or potential time and cost savings. Products and services that help create healthy patients and improve patient outcomes are in the greatest demand (ie, have the most value); however, health care administrators also are interested in ideas that reduce the cost of doing business. When you analyze your product’s value, study the process in which your product will be used (eg, patient transfers onto OR beds, surgical sponge counts). Mentally and physically walk through this process and evaluate how your product would affect people and resources from the time it was delivered to an OR suite until the time of its disposal. The process-oriented approach to estimating your product’s value
NOVEMBER 1997, VOL 66, NO 5
is embodied in concepts such as activity based costing (ABC), which allocates “cost drivers” (eg, supplies, labor, overhead) to specific activities or steps in the process. By using this process, you may be able to show that your product is valuable because it eliminates one or more cost drivers. For example, if your product is an $8 video camera drape that eliminates the $20 process of sterilizing the video camera, your product would be valuable because it would eliminate several cost drivers (eg, supplies, labor, equipment depreciation).
ESTIMATE THE PROFIT POTENTIAL Now is the time to determine if it is possible to manufacture your product and what its potential profit:cost ratio will be. Development costs can add up quickly, and you must be realistic about the potential market for your product. For example, if your product can be used in all surgical procedures, multiply the projected selling price by the number of surgical procedures performed annually to estimate the potential market for your product. After projecting how many units of your product would be needed each year, the next step is to consider the production process. Your goal is to produce a quality product in a timely manner. One option is to invest your personal time and money in the processes of patenting, manufacturing, obtaining regulatory clearance, selling, and distributing your product. With the increased regulation and consolidation of the health care industry, this approach is not feasible for many nurse inventors. A viable alternative is to form a partnership with an existing firm to manufacture and market your product.
POTENTIAL PARTNERS Make a list of companies that might be interested in your product. Most likely, you interact with representatives from these companies on a regular basis. Think of companies that produce products that are similar or complementary to yours. For example, a company that manufactures suction tips might be interested in a new suction tubing design. After you have created your list of potential partners, learn more about them. It is relatively easy to f i d a company to manufacture your product. The more difficult task is to find a f i i that can market and promote your product. Investigate companies’ strategic directions, values, and production capabilities as well as their marketing, advertising, promotion, and sales records. Most major companies have home pages on the Internet in addition to corporate brochures that are readily available; however, this type of information is designed to be promotional rather than objective. Ask your colleagues to identify the companies that they respect and that they believe would market your product effectively. CONTACT SOME COMPANIES Now that you have your “short list” of potential manufacturing and marketing partners, contact some of these companies. If your facility does business with some of these companies, talk to their representatives. Company representatives can provide names of product development people in their organizations. To protect yourself and your idea, do not mention specific details about your product when you talk with company representa909 AORN JOURNAL
tives; only discuss the benefits of your idea. Using the previous camera drape example, you would share with a representative that you have an idea for a product that would avoid having to sterilize video cameras. If you do not know any representatives, call companies and ask to speak with product managers or people responsible for new product development. Describe the general benefits of your idea, not its features or design characteristics. (If you contact a company and cannot locate a person responsible for new product development, delete this company’s name from your list of potential partners.) If a company product manager expresses interest in your idea and you think further discussion is warranted, immediately address the issue of protecting your rights as an inventor. The company product manager should offer to send you a standard confidentiality agreement. When you receive this agreement, ask a qualified patent attorney to review the agreement or to create one for you. After the agreement is signed by both parties, you can discuss specific features of your idea. A good confidentiality agreement should protect both your interest as the inventor and the company’s interests. This agreement prevents the company from profiting from your product or idea without your permission, thus allowing you to discuss your concept freely with the company as your potential marketing partner. The agreement also contains language that prevents you from suing the company for rights to products it is already developing. Most confidentiality agreements
NOVEMBER 1997, VOL 66, NO 5
limit your rights as the inventor to the protection afforded by patent, trademark, and copyright laws. WORK WITH A MARUETlNG PARTNER Meet the actual product manager or new products director who will be involved with your project’s development. These people travel frequently to research markets, test concepts, and conduct training seminars, so it may be possible to meet with this person in your hometown to minimize costs. Ask for a detailed marketing time line for your product. Most likely, the company will conduct a marketing opportunity analysis to determine your product’s viability and potential market. Although the product manager or new products director will be interested in hearing your test marketing results, the company will conduct its own research. After gathering feedback from potential customers, the company may decide it is necessary to modify your original concept. The next step is a presentation of your product’s desired features and benefits to the company’s manufacturing and research and development (R & D) departments. The R & I)personnel may determine how the product will be manufactured, and they will collaborate with personnel in the manufacturing and finance divisions to determine the cost of manufacturing your product. This cost is referred to by various terms (eg, standard cost, cost of goods sold, manufacturing cost). The product manager uses this information to determine your product’s potential profit contribution to the company. He or she
then presents a proposal to the company’s management group for approval. The management group members may request more modifications of your product and ask to have these changes resubmitted for approval. These steps
The greatest reward in transforming an idea into a viable product is to see it improve patient care. replicate-n the corporate level-the ones you already have taken in deciding to turn your idea into a product. The time lines of these various processes will vary depending on the complexity of your product and the company’s general production pace. Although these processes are time consuming, they build a firm foundation that can give your product a winning edge in a competitive market. Privately owned companies generally are more agile and move at a faster pace than publicly traded companies. Some companies also offer you the opportunity to participating in the manufacturing and marketing of your product. Regardless of the size or ownership of the company, you must feel comfortable with your role and the company’s ability to turn your idea into a product.
910 AORN JOURNAL
PROFITING FROM YOUR IDEA #en you begin negotiations with a company, you still own the rights to your product. #en the company’s analysis verifies the potential profitability of your product, you should negotiate rights to manufacture and market your product. The rights generally are negotiated in one of two ways. rn The company will buy all rights to your idea or product for a lump sum. m The company negotiates a licensing agreement whereby it pays you a royalty for each unit of your product that it sells. Regardless of the type of agreement, you must be straightforward when your discuss monetary values with the company. You also must realize that the company will incur significant costs in patenting your product, manufacturing your product, teaching sale representatives about your product, advertising your product, distributing your product, and providing troubleshooting services to customers who purchase and use your product. Frank, objective discussions will yield benefits for you and the company and help build a positive, long-term working relationship as your product is developed, manufactured, launched, sold, and refined. CONCLUSION Bringing a new product to market is quite an undertaking. The greatest reward is the gratification of seeing your idea transformed into a three-dimensional product that you and your colleagues can use to benefit the recipients of your care. A