Giving families with premature newborns the opportunity to return home earlier

Babies born prematurely need extra care and follow-up. This usually means that the child has to stay in hospital for a long time, which often is a stressful experience for both parents and the surrounding family. In many cases, it may be better for the child to go home so that parents and relatives can provide care in a more intuitive and relaxed environment. The challenge is to ensure that the family receives proper medical and health care follow-up.

The "Virtual Home Hospital" innovation project at Vestfold Hospital wanted to work with AHO to explore possible solutions from a design perspective.

Putting the baby first

"Come home" is a proposal for a collaborative tool to be used by nurses, doctors and parents. The solution supports the training parents receive during their stay in the hospital, and ensures follow-up of the family after returning home. Simply put, it is a digital application that provides education and relevant information for parents after returning home with their newborns. The app can be connected to sensors that monitor the child's condition (such as heart rate and oxygen saturation), and automatically sends vital information to health personnel at the hospital.

Another important dimension of the project is that it demonstrates how professional knowledge, research, systems thinking and design methodology can be used to develop new and innovative solutions that put the users' needs first – even when the users are babies.