Devices & Diagnostics, MedCity Influencers

Medical device innovation: how to get ideas flowing

Medical device innovation has to start somewhere. Here's a list of resolutions to help clinicians who want to advance medical science.

For the New Year, here’s a list of ten resolutions for clinicians to further medical device innovation:

1. Commit to every day asking yourself whether the procedures or medical steps you are performing could be done faster, cheaper, or better.

2. Buy a bound (non-spiral) composition notebook for documenting the year 2011 observed clinical needs, ideas, and interactions with others on ideas.

3. Create a log in the bound notebook for observations related to procedures, tools, and equipment that could either be improved or are absent.
4. Enter at least 2 — 3 “Needs” in the notebook log per month.
5. Document every idea you have, regardless of maturity or feasibility, in the bound notebook.
6. Join the healinginnovation.com forum, read the tutorials and post at least 1 question relative to clinicians inventing and developing medical devices
7. Network with at least 1 engineer relative to approaches to solving one of your identified Needs.
8. Continuously refine ideas previously posted in your notebook
9. Pick at least 1 idea and “Just Make It!” either yourself, with the help of a technically savvy friend or pay to have it made.
10. File at least 1 provisional patent

These 10 resolutions are only the start to being a clinical innovator. Depending upon your motivations you may also want to prove the feasibility of your idea, determine the business case for your product, finance the development, and execute a marketing/sales strategy, to name a few non-trivial tasks.

But your observations and ideas are not valuable to yourself or society if they waste away solely in your imagination. You can start to make an impact and the New Year is a great impetus to get the inertia moving in the right direction.


Healing Innovation

Healing Innovation is a resource for clinician innovators. The main site - HealingInnovation.com - provides an overview of the various aspects and issues facing clinician innovators.

This post appears through the MedCity Influencers program. Anyone can publish their perspective on business and innovation in healthcare on MedCity News through MedCity Influencers. Click here to find out how.

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