Innovations, which are emerging more and more each year, provide huge support for the scientific and medical community.
Challenges
Innovations are the future of the healthcare sector. One only needs to look at the events of just a few years ago, when the Covid pandemic forced the rapid development of telemedicine. What was once an innovation – e-prescriptions, electronic sick notes, teleconsultations – is now in common use. Despite this, successful implementation of a product or service on such a scale is still rare.
The complexity of the Polish healthcare system makes innovative activity a multifaceted process. The problem lies in reconciling different stakeholder groups, finding funding, or evaluating the project.
Medical innovations do not arise – or at least they shouldn’t – in isolation from the ecosystem. According to the latest report on the Digital Decade[1] (Digital Decade 2024), as many as 81% of Poles believe that digitalization makes their lives easier. This is one of the highest results in Europe. Using various applications has become standard for us in our private and professional lives. In this context, we cannot treat the medical environment as a separate entity that does not use digitalization. On the contrary – digitalization and digital transformation have positively influenced, among other things, documentation storage.
Global trends indicate that in the near future, cloud and artificial intelligence-based solutions will set the directions for development. At the Institute of Mother and Child, we have a long tradition of creating, implementing, and developing innovative healthcare methods. This can result in projects such as the introduction of AI-supported software.
Find ‘tailor-made’ innovations
In the reality of our healthcare system, there are two ways to seek innovative solutions. Each has its pros, so it’s worth considering both and choosing the one that best suits specific needs.
The first one is the method we use at IMiD. Since 2022, together with 5 other public clinical units, we have been organizing the Mother and Child Startup Challenge competition.
The main prize is a pilot of the winning product or service in a hospital environment. By “opening doors” in this way, innovators gain the opportunity to validate their project, which fosters dialogue between the medical and business/startup communities.
By finding a startup at an early stage of development – this year it was startups with TRL =<7 – we can guide it by the hand through the entire process. This way, the idea develops and adapts to our needs.
The advantage of such a competition is the wide range of topics. At IMiD, we place particular emphasis on diagnostics, prevention, and treatment in the area of pediatrics and broadly understood women’s health at every age, but this does not exhaust the entire catalogue. We are also looking for innovative solutions in prevention and screening, patient education and specialist training, process and documentation management, laboratory technologies and biotechnology, and hospital work organization. Innovation is not just about technology!
Thanks to the support of Partners, we offer startups mentoring, assistance in project development, and the possibility of incubation. Such a path requires openness from both the hospital management and staff. The mere preparation for implementing a new medical technology is an extremely complex process, involving many teams. We must secure legal and financial matters, develop safety regulations, training is needed, and a lot of goodwill.
We face a thoroughly interdisciplinary task, often pushing us out of our comfort zone. Fear of the unknown is a natural reaction, but it is courage that allows for development. Change management is one of the key competencies when implementing innovations. There are also objective implementation obstacles, such as the inability to adapt space for certain devices or IT systems, or staff shortages.
However, in return, the hospital receives a solution to its specific problem – whether clinical or administrative. Moreover, the solution is already tailored to its needs, without the need for modification.
Following the entire process – from incubation to product implementation – we see how significant a role industry collaboration plays. Startup incubation is impossible without the hospital’s involvement. Besides formal aspects, dedicating staff to conduct such a pilot is crucial.
It is also good practice to create a unit within the hospital responsible for translating doctors’ needs into business language and vice versa. Lack of understanding often lies at the root of failures. At IMiD, the Department for Artificial Intelligence and Medical Technology Innovation fulfills this role.
Copy proven methods
The second way to modernize a facility is to seek proven solutions and adapt them to its needs. In this path, collaboration between different entities and the exchange of experiences are important.
For this purpose, the competition “Implementation of Innovation in Healthcare,” organized by the Supreme Medical Chamber (NIL IN), was created. It is conducted in 3 categories: outpatient care, hospital care, and innovator (m/f).
Individuals who have successfully implemented their solutions in single facilities, as well as those whose ideas operate on a large scale, e.g., in clinic networks, can participate in the competition. Doctors, medical and administrative staff, management, as well as IT and new technology specialists can apply. The key criteria are the innovativeness of the solutions and the effectiveness of their implementation.
Copying good practices and solutions that have already been tested minimizes the risk of failure. However, one must remember that they cannot always be replicated 1:1. The specifics and size of the facility, the number of staff, and the budget are significant factors.
Role of medic-innovators
Although startups and innovations are mainly associated with business, products dedicated to the medical environment cannot be created without its participation. Doctors, physiotherapists, paramedics, nurses, and midwives know best how certain processes can be improved.
In the case of medical innovations, we must always check if a given solution is not only financially viable but, above all, if it is effective and safe. The openness of the medical community to pilots and collaboration with representatives of the technology industry will allow us to accelerate not only the testing phase but also evaluation and implementation.
There is still much to be done in this field, starting from legal regulations and funding methods, up to creating a fast track for implementation. However, innovations are our future. Utilizing their potential will allow for improving the quality of services and optimizing the work of the medical industry.
Article from the series: NIL Columns
OSOZ Blog – How to introduce medical innovations into hospitals?
[1] https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/library/report-state-digital-decade-2024 (access: 10.07.2024)
Authors:
Tomasz Maciejewski, MD, PhD
Director of the Institute of Mother and Child
Monika Dobrzeniecka
Chief Promotion Specialist for Mother and Child Startup Challenge
Department for Artificial Intelligence and Medical Technology Innovation, IMiD
Małgorzata Maj
Innovation Project Manager
Department for Artificial Intelligence and Medical Technology Innovation, IMiD
Nikoletta Buczek
Innovation Project Manager
Department for Artificial Intelligence and Medical Technology Innovation, IMiD