SESSION 1.
Both Clinicians and Patients create very valuable medical innovations
The medical innovation landscape has changed
Eric von Hippel, MIT Sloan School of Management
Professor João Nabais, Vice Rector, University of Evora, Vice-President International Diabetes Federation
For about 100 years, innovation theory and practice has focused upon producers of medical products as “the” innovators. Now we understand that many of these innovations commonly attributed to producers are actually developed first by both clinician and patient innovators. Clinicians, patients and medical producers all specialize in different kinds of innovations – each drawing upon on their special expertise. Clinicians focus on creating the kinds of operations and treatments they deliver to patients. Patients specialize in creating more effective ways to live with chronic diseases at home. Producers and university researchers specialize in well-defined diseases. They create the drugs to address them via basic and applied research. Medical equipment producers specialize in improving medical equipment and products clinicians and patients have pioneered – and delivering them at high quality.
Reading:
Demonaco, Harold, Pedro Oliveira, Andrew Torrance, Christiana von Hippel, and Eric von Hippel (2019) “When patients become innovators” Sloan Management Review Spring, pp. 81-88.
Svensson, P. O., and R. K. Hartmann. 2016. Policies to Promote User Innovation: Evidence from Swedish Hospitals on the Effects of Access to Makerspaces.
SESSION 2.
Patients as a source of innovations
Improving recognition and diffusion of patient developed innovation
patient-innovation.com
Pedro Oliveira, Dean, Nova School of Business and Economics
Helena Canhão, Dean, Nova Medical School
Experts patients in many fields plays a relevant role in peer-to-peer support and some become a source of innovation. And when they do, they often apply their training to improve medical care at home for themselves and their families. The popularization of internet allowed the dissemination of the patient lead innovations, in particular via social media and similar ways. In these platforms patients exchange innovative ways of dealing with day-to-day problems and difficulties, advice on how to apply and improve standard medical care in their home settings and also innovative devices and methdologies, created or improved by themselves. Patient-Innovation.com is the first system to systematically find and improve the diffusion of patient-developed innovations. Patient-Innovation is now extending its reach to support the diffusion of clinician-developed innovations as well. In this session, the founders, Pedro Oliveira and Helena Canhão, explain their system, how it works, and how clinicians and patients can use it.
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Reading:
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Zejnilovic, Leid & Oliveira, Pedro & Canhão, Helena. (2016). Innovations by and for Patients, and Their Place in the Future Health Care System. 10.1007/978-3-662-49012-9_19.
Patient Innovation. (2023). About us. Retrieved July 18, 2023, from https://patientinnovation.com/about-us
SESSION 3.
How to diffuse Clinician and Patient innovations better
Practical exercise on diffusing innovation: Toolkits to help patients and doctors spread best practices
Eric von Hippel – MIT
Maria João Jacinto
Pedro Oliveira
As we saw in session 1, patient innovators are self-rewarded and often don’t mind letting others adopt their new equipment and home-developed practices for free. BUT patients – and clinicians - who give things away for free may have little incentive to invest in helping producers to adopt them. When that is the case, there can be a market failure with respect to innovation diffusion. Introduction to Patient Innovation Bootcamp as an answer to this issue – practical example through Patient Innovation Alumni. Once a clinician or patient innovation in practice has been developed and found safe and effective – it must be diffused. Toolkits for patient practice have been found very valuable to assist both doctors and patients in adopting practice modifications of benefit to both.
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Reading:
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Von Hippel, Eric, Harold Demonaco, and Jeroen de Jong (2016) “Market failure in the diffusion of cliniciandeveloped innovations: The case of off-label drug discoveries” Science and Public Policy.
Demonaco, Harold and Eric von Hippel (2006), "Reducing medical costs and increasing quality via toolkits for patient self-management”. PLoS Med 4(4): e104.
