2.1. Characteristics of technologies and products for preventing and treating postoperative hypothermia
Due to some reasons, for example, exposure to cold operating room temperature, a patient will have the possibility of experiencing post-operative hypothermia. Hypothermia is a frequent occurrence during major surgical procedures (4) where body temperature falls below 36 degrees.
Major postoperative complications such as cardiac, arrhythmias, respiratory failure, sepsis, dehiscence, and death have been associated with hypothermia (5, 6). Studies have shown that there is a direct positive co-relationship between the duration of postoperative hypothermia and patient mortality (3). Thus it is important to prevent …show more content…
Since there are substitute goods available, price will be the only factor of differentiation of products. Incompetent pricing comparatively with other competitors will lead to a decrease in market potential for BHPWS.
b. Marketing and Sales Communication
An effective marketing communication strategy and management will be able to influence the market potential. As mentioned in the article, respondents felt that “if the product performed as claimed and demonstrated, purchase was probably by at least one-half of the individuals interviewed” and “physicians wanted to confer with others who would be responsible for using the product to administer the warming treat”. These showed that effective communications will increase the market potential for BHPWS.
Demand
Since BHWPS is medical equipment for hypothermia, the demand for such equipments will be inelastic. The demand was determined by several factors which include the number of surgical operations, percentage of patients having hypothermia after surgical operations, number of hospitals and number of postoperative beds. All these factors are interlinked and formed the demand for hypothermic treatment