Medtech Design in Interdisciplinary Clinical Innovation Teams

Interdisciplinary settings have been highlighted for creative user-close development of products and services. Similarly, user involvement in the actual design process has been presented as a way to make attractive products that will earn market shares. But will an interdisciplinary setting in itself generate the beneficial spin-offs we expect? Will including the end-user on the development team ensure better products that are more successful on the market? A study has been set up to create a work model for Clinical Innovation Teams (CIT) at the Sister Kenny Research Center in Minneapolis, MN, to facilitate the research and development process, and provide guidance to work in a creative and innovative way around rehabilitation technology development. The CITs consist of clinicians, such as nurses, occupational therapists, physical therapists, physicians, engineers and engineering students, and in some cases patients. The CITs combine the interdisciplinary setting and end-user involvement with a custom work-model. The work-model emphasizes the strengths of the teams and provides tools to overcome the obstacles and challenges that these kind of teams face. The technological depth and clinical experience is combined with a structured project work-model. The teams work interdisciplinary by pairing research with actual patient needs to develop rehabilitation technology and medical devices to address those needs. The first tool in the work model is an Innovation Handbook for development projects at the Sister Kenny Research Center, especially written for this specific setting. The second tool is a report with recommendations to the management on how to create a work environment where innovation can occur and where creative ideas are welcome, as well as how to engage clinicians into research. The report also addresses aspects of workplace design, recommendations on how to deal with uncertainties that come when moving between clinical care and research and ideas of how to ensure quality of care and maintain productivity when clinicians engage in research activities. The third tool in the work model is a schematic illustration of how the important elements of innovation management is paired with the design process, and how a project will benefit from good management and where it will suffer from insufficient support. This project has been supported by the City of Minneapolis, the Sister Kenny Research Center and the Product Innovation Engineering Program of Sweden (PIEp). Corresponding author: L. Oddsson; e-mail: lars.oddsson@allina.com