1. 7) Outcomes
1.1. Outcomes are essentially what drives innovation and the overall project scope. Innovation teams have an outcome in mind and thus make steps to innovate in order to achieve those outcomes.
1.1.1. Innovation outcomes can include a better service, lower costs, decreased environmental impact, less need for supplies, consolidating multiple functions down to one tool, increased productivity, longevity, time saving and an improved user interface to name a few (Game-Changer, 2017)!
1.1.1.1. Figure 8: Bullseye In healthcare many outcomes are driven toward improving the patient experience, decreasing costs and improving population health.
1.1.1.2. Some recent innovations include products and programs such as telemedicine, which bring patient and physician together despite possible distance issues. There is also the formation of health care in retail chains such as Walgreens and CVS. Prescriptions have become digital in many cases and collaboration among doctors has improved through the use of EMRs.
2. 5) Finance
2.1. Figure 6: Money Bag Finance as a pillar in healthcare innovation is very important. Finance is all the funding-- internal or external-- that allows innovation to take place.
2.2. Funding innovation includes the funding of research, new technologies, products, hiring or paying employees and contractors in order to move the innovation process forward.
2.2.1. Often times there is great uncertainty in the beginning of the innovation process which can make receiving funding hard. Research is often the first thing to be accomplished if it doesn't already exist. An example would be getting advanced research on a particular method of treating cancer. If this method takes a lot of time, money and resources, yet has not already been confirmed as a successful treatment, funding for the project may be hard to come by or hard to justify unless it's internally sourced.
2.3. Internal sources of funding often include using profits that have not been distributed out to shareholders or using money that has not already been used. External sources include fundraising, debt and equity, venture capital funds and individual investors (The Innovation Policy Forum, 2017).
2.3.1. Things that may affect funding:
2.3.1.1. Long investment time needed for new FDA drugs to get approval (Herzlinger, 2006)
2.3.1.2. Biotech investments may take up to 10 years to get products approved for use (Herzlinger, 2006).
2.3.1.3. 3rd party insurers have to approve a product and pricing before they will pay for it so you have to be sure they are on board, too. They may not see the same value that a patient would (Herzlinger, 2006).
2.3.1.4. Doctors must see the appeal in a product too and depending on if they are salary or fee for service they may not see the benefit in changing up their routine and recommendations (Herzlinger, 2006).
3. 4) Evidence Based Practice
3.1. Figure 5: Evidence Pyramid
3.2. Evidence Based Practice, within the context of innovation, is the practice of gathering and sifting through current and new research or data in order to make decisions backed by empirical and objective evidence.
3.3. Without empirical evidence there is chance not only for bias to cloud decision making, but for decisions to be made with little certainty. By analyzing data from either databases within an organization or from research evidence there is a higher possibility for policy makers and the innovative team to make decisions to meet their desired goals with a higher certainty (Committee on Ethical and Scientific Issues in Studying the Safety of Approved Drugs, 2012).
3.3.1. This is extremely important when valuable resources such as money, time and employees are being used to implement new policies for innovation.
3.4. When doing research it's important to take evidence from reputable sources that contain the least amount of bias and the highest amount of scientific rigor (or adherence to the scientific method).
3.4.1. The best sources include peer reviewed meta-analyses and systematic reviews. These articles are not only scholarly, but they analyze many studies that fit within in a defined criteria to provide a better idea of what the research says as a whole on a topic.
3.4.2. The next best options include randomized-controlled trials or experimental studies. These are done on a very specific population and if done correctly can provide a bit of insight for further research to be conducted or help clarify what's already been done. Though they are great, they should not be solely relied on because other studies may have had conflicting results.
3.4.3. Finally there are the case studies. I personally don't find these too useful, but they should not be neglected since surely the person involved was human and healthcare is human focused.
3.4.4. You might as well ignore this one. I wanted to. The articles published in magazines and on blog sites... don't give them the time of day unless your end goal is to check out their sources first hand. They often don't relay information how it was actually presented in the literature and may even purposefully only take what they want in order to support their own purpose.
4. 1) Innovative Process:
4.1. The innovative process involves the steps in which a collaborative or interdisciplinary team gets together with the intent to improve a PRODUCT, PROCESS or STRUCTURE in an organization, group or society at large (Omachonu, 2010).
4.2. Figure 1: Strategy Map Graphic. See note for more.
4.3. The team discusses the problem and the desired outcome(s) in order to open up discussion for how improvements can be made. The conversation remain targeted and realistic, yet creative and novel (Hattendorf, 2010).
4.3.1. What it means to me: When I think of discussing the desired outcomes in healthcare I picture a group of physicians, nurses and healthcare professionals getting together to plan out how things can be improved. Let's say that there have been issues with a new Medtronic insulin pump... The group gets together to analyze the problem and how things can be improved. I would also imagine that there would be non medical professionals that are on the board in order to have unbiased persons present to represent the community.
4.4. Figure 2: Calendar Graphic. See note for more.
4.5. By taking into consideration the possible outcomes, organizational policy, current scientific evidence, available finances and tasks at hand, a plan is devised to successfully innovate.
4.6. The plan is executed
4.6.1. The plan should be executed according to how they mapped it out with each person having their own duties and communication happening among all people involved.
4.7. Improvement(s) to a product, process or structure should be evident. If it fails, go back to the drawing board and do it all over again with the new insight.
5. 2) Leadership
5.1. Innovation leadership is the collaborative effort among leaders in an organization to promote, manage and drive innovation.
5.1.1. Figure 3: The Role of Leadership Mindsets in Networks
5.1.2. It's important that there is more than one core leader so that the collaboration is more effective and diverse.
5.1.2.1. With fewer leaders, the collaboration efforts may be more tough. There may be a lack of viewpoints or perspectives. I also view this as being something that should include people of multiple genders, cultural backgrounds and high level roles in the organization. Within the healthcare context I would have a team of physicians of multiple specialties, a chaplain, nutritionist and possibly an unbiased non-healthcare member along with someone in the ethics committee. This allows us to cover all of our bases and report back to our departments in order to set in motion innovation among our separate teams.
5.1.3. Leaders need to work hard to create a CULTURE of innovation within the organization. This can be done through making it a key topic to be addressed in meeting or day to day work.
5.1.4. Leaders are risk-takers and encourage new ideas. The provide direction by telling employees or team members what innovation they expect or aim to achieve. (What problem is to be solved). Providing direction is key! Ensuring people know their role may help as well.
5.1.5. Finally, leaders need to set performance metrics and targets that are measurable. Having no true way of tracking performance may lead to stagnation in the innovative process. It may also cause projects to be delayed or go over budget.
5.2. A survey of 600 global business executives and professionals points to leadership as the best predictor of innovation performance (Barsh, Capozzi and Davidson, 2008).
6. 3) Policy
6.1. Health policy has many components to it, but ultimately a policy or policies are rules and guidelines set in place in order to guide a healthcare organization. Policies guide everybody’s decision making and even duties to provide order and consistency.
6.1.1. Figure 4: Changes Ahead
6.1.2. Changes to current policy usually occur as issues arise or as the organization sees fit to add new ways of doing things at the pace appropriate for the healthcare organization. In other words, these plans may have already been decided at the start of implementing the policy or may come as issues arise (World Health Organization, 2017).
6.1.2.1. It’s important to appraise the situation properly and be aware of the fact that implementing new policies are not easy when it requires a complete overhaul (World Health Organization, 2017). Everybody coming into a policy decision making meeting also have to leave their post and thus it may cause confusion and leave key tasks undone within the organization. Because of this, people may not be on board with new policies and resist change because of how large the task would be to implement it. On the other hand, if the need is large enough for change, you don’t want to implement it immediately without foresight over possible stunts in organizational functions.
6.1.2.2. If the policies in place are completely irreparable, the collaborative team must get together and appraise the situation then completely restructure the police framework.
6.1.2.2.1. When it think of something that seems irreparable, I think of the rumors that say medicare may become insolvent by 2028 due to lower payroll taxes and the still heightened use of inpatient care for chronically ill individuals (Dickson, 2016). A reform may be needed to care for those with chronic diseases as the acute care facilities can't provide much with the fragmented allopathic only approach. I believe things will change and a solution will be found because people are able to see how things are bound to take a turn for the worst through healthy foresight of future complications.
7. 6) Technology
7.1. Figure 7: Telehealth
7.2. Technology Innovation is the use of different electronic systems and products to improve healthcare. It's also the combining of multiple systems and products to improve healthcare.
7.2.1. Technology innovations are a huge reason why healthcare has improved over the years and why there is still hope for those who have debilitating illnesses. Cancer was once always considered terminal, but not any longer! For many people, it is now curable.
7.2.1.1. Data Technology
7.2.1.1.1. Data technology in health care has been revolutionary. Researchers can use data collected over the years to improve health outcomes and make decisions based on quantitative data.
7.2.1.2. Robotic surgery technology
7.2.1.2.1. Robotic Surgery has done so much for health care. It has reduced the amount of time patients are hospitalized. It has made the incisions smaller, less likely to get infected and decreased the amount of pain and discomfort. For the physician, robotic surgery increases precision and visualization as well (UC Health, 2017).
7.2.1.3. Telemedicine
7.2.1.3.1. Telemedicine has made it possible for people to have a visit with a physician from the comfort of their own home. Some people cannot travel long distances so this makes it possible for remote care. Undoubtedly it is also cost effective (American Telemedicine Association, 2017).
7.2.1.4. Electronic Medical Records
7.2.1.4.1. Electronic Medical Records have allowed for collaboration among physicians treating the same patients. It's improved data collection so that it can be analyzed and give insight into the operations of a facility and patient outcomes. The best thing is having all the information in one place rather than scattered and missing among multiple healthcare facilities. When this happens there is a higher chance for overtreatment and misdiagnosis.
7.2.1.5. Vital Tracking Applications
7.2.1.5.1. Vital Tracking apps such as the "Fit Ring" or the "Oura Ring" allow people to see their sleep patterns, heart rate and stress levels. There are also multiple devices that check blood pressure, blood glucose and more. These applications make it easy to collect data for the patient while also allowing their health to be in their own hands.
7.2.1.6. Nutrition and Workout Trackers
7.2.1.6.1. Nutrition and Exercise are important factors for population and public health as they are the hub for preventive medicine. The application that allow people to track their calories, workout and macronutrients serves as a mechanism for learning and health improvement.