Re:Build identified a significant gap in hospital neonatal care equipment: the hospital bassinet market had remained stagnant for decades, with designs that prioritized function over user experience. Traditional bassinets were essentially “filing cabinets on wheels,” bulky, difficult to maneuver, and poorly suited to the needs of healthcare workers and new mothers. As an internal innovation project, Re:Build set out to completely reimagine the hospital bassinet by applying human-centered design principles, ergonomic optimization, and medical device engineering expertise to create a solution that would improve maternal-infant bonding, reduce caregiver strain, and meet Class II medical device regulatory requirements.
The Details
Industry
Medical
CAPABILITIES APPLIED
The project addressed multiple interconnected user experience and functional design challenges that had been overlooked in the medical equipment industry:
Ergonomic Deficiencies for Healthcare Workers: NICU and mother/baby unit nurses reported chronic physical strain from using existing bassinets. The bulky designs forced caregivers into awkward postures during routine infant care tasks. Maneuvering heavy, unwieldy bassinets through hospital corridors and around tight spaces in patient rooms created operational inefficiencies and contributed to workplace injuries.
Maternal Accessibility Barriers: New mothers, particularly those recovering from cesarean sections, struggled to reach their newborns comfortably from hospital beds. Traditional bassinet heights and positioning limitations prevented easy visual and physical contact, undermining early maternal-infant bonding, a critical factor in newborn development and maternal recovery.
Infection Control and Cleaning Challenges: Existing bassinet designs featured complex geometries, crevices, and hard-to-reach surfaces that complicated thorough cleaning and disinfection protocols. In hospital environments where infection prevention is paramount, these design flaws created unnecessary risks and increased environmental services workload.
Safety and Stability Concerns: Traditional bassinets exhibited tipping risks during transport and positioning. Unstable caster designs created safety hazards during movement, while poor weight distribution increased the likelihood of accidents in busy hospital environments.
Outdated Aesthetic and User Experience: The industrial, utilitarian appearance of existing bassinets failed to create a warm, welcoming environment for new families during a significant life event. The clinical, impersonal design contributed to a sterile hospital experience rather than supporting the emotional needs of new parents.
Regulatory and Manufacturing Complexity: Developing a Class II medical device required navigating complex FDA regulatory pathways, biocompatibility testing, and safety validation while maintaining design intent through manufacturing scale-up and eventual production transfer to an OEM partner.
Re:Build delivered the Nara Bassinet, a fully reimagined hospital neonatal care solution developed through comprehensive user research, human factors analysis, and iterative design validation.
The development process began with qualitative research including interviews and focus groups with NICU nurses, mother/baby unit staff, hospital environmental services teams, and new mothers. Direct observation of daily workflows and usability testing with full-scale mockups informed ergonomic and functional design decisions.
The final design features a narrow cabinet profile enabling bedside positioning for easy maternal interaction, a three-point contact fastening system reducing tipping risks, steel-locking soft wheel casters providing smooth transport with excellent stability, and height adjustability optimizing caregiver ergonomics and maternal access.
Rigorous mechanical engineering, design for manufacturing optimization, material selection, and structural analysis ensured Class II medical device safety, durability, and regulatory compliance. A comprehensive brand identity emphasizing compassion and innovation in healthcare accompanied the product development.
Following design validation, an initial pilot run supported early market access and real-world feedback refinement. Manufacturing successfully scaled to exceed the MedTech OEM customer’s sales projections for four consecutive years. The Nara Bassinet received industry recognition including a Good Design® Award, the Core77 Community Choice Prize, and a 2017 Core77 Notable Award.
Comprehensive documentation, tooling, and assembly protocols facilitated seamless manufacturing transfer to the OEM’s facility, preserving design intent while establishing a predominantly Michigan-based supply chain.
