The Yale Center for Biomedical Innovation and Technology (CBIT): One Model to Accelerate Impact From Academic Health Care Innovation

Medtech innovation guide: an empiric model to support medical technology innovation

Innovation has become increasingly important for most industries to cope with rapid technological changes as well as changing societal needs. Even though there are many sectors with specific needs when it comes to supporting innovation, the medical technology sector is facing several unique challenges that both increases the lead-time from idea to finished product and decreases the number of innovations that are developed. This paper presents a proposed innovation guide that has been developed and evaluated as a support for the innovation process within medical technology research. The guide takes the unique characteristics of the medical technology sector into account and serves as a usable guide for the innovator. The complete guide contains both a structure for the process and a usable web application to support the journey from idea to finished products and services. The paper also includes a new readiness level, Sect. 4.2 to provide support both when developing and determining the readiness for clinical implementation of a medical technology innovation.

Tips for Building a Community for Incoming Medical Students Virtually in the COVID-19 Era

A sense of community benefits medical trainees by preserving mental well-being, nurturing collegiality and mentorship, and grounding ties with partnering organizations and services. Within medical school, building these support relationships often begins shortly after matriculation. In the current pandemic and the accompanying shift to a virtual class format, we believe that a dedicated effort to foster this sense of community is crucial for students who otherwise may feel untethered to their new learning environment. Here, we detail tips for building a medical school community virtually in the COVID-19 era between peers, within the school institution, and within the surrounding environment.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40670-021-01447-z.

Impact of External Environmental Dimensions on Financial Performance of Major Teaching Hospitals in the U.S

Teaching hospitals have a unique mission to not only deliver graduate medical education but to also provide both inpatient and ambulatory care and to conduct clinical medical research; therefore, they are under constant financial pressure, and it is important to explore what types of external environmental components affect their financial performance. This study examined if there is an association between the short-term and long-term financial performance of major teaching hospitals in the United States and the external environmental dimensions, as measured by the Resource Dependence Theory. Data for 226 major teaching hospitals spanning 46 states were analyzed. The dependent variable for short-term financial performance was days cash on hand, and dependent variable for long-term financial performance was return on assets, both an average of most recently available 4-year data (2014-2017). Utilizing linear regression model, results showed significance between outpatient revenue and days cash on hand as well as significant relationship between population of the metropolitan statistical area, unemployment rate of the metropolitan statistical area, and teaching hospital's return on assets. Additionally, system membership, type of ownership/control, and teaching intensity also showed significant association with return on assets. By comprehensively examining all major teaching hospitals in the U.S. and analyzing the association between their short-term and long-term financial performance and external environmental dimensions, based upon Resource Dependence Theory, we found that by offering diverse outpatient services and novel delivery options, administrators of teaching hospitals may be able to increase organizational liquidity.

Exploring research impact models: A systematic scoping review

This article explores the models and frameworks developed on “research impact’. We aim to provide a comprehensive overview of related literature through scoping study method. The present research investigates the nature, objectives, approaches, and other main attributes of the research impact models. It examines to analyze and classify models based on their characteristics. Forty-seven studies and 10 reviews published between 1996 and 2020 were included in the analysis. The majority of models were developed for the impact assessment and evaluation purposes. We identified three approaches in the models, namely outcome-based, process-based, and those utilized both of them, among which the outcome-based approach was the most frequently used by impact models and evaluation was considered as the main objective of this group. The process-based ones were mainly adapted from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation logic model and were potentially eligible for impact improvement. We highlighted the scope of processes and other specific features for the recent models. Given the benefits of the process-based approach in enhancing and accelerating the research impact, it is important to consider such approach in the development of impact models. Effective interaction between researchers and stakeholders, knowledge translation, and evidence synthesis are the other possible driving forces contributing to achieve and improve impact.

How to make your research jump off the page: Co-creation to broaden public engagement in medical research

Nina Finley and co-authors discuss public involvement in planning and reporting medical research.

New technologies and future trends

Numerous technologies have been introduced for the diagnosis, treatment, and management of patients with neurologic disorders, offering the promise of early diagnosis, tailored and individualized interventions, improvement in quality of life, and restoration of neurologic function. Many of these technologies have become available commercially without having been evaluated by rigorous clinical trials and regulatory reviews, or at the least by peer review of results submitted for publication. A subset is intended to assess, assist, and monitor cognitive functions, motor skills, and autonomic functions and as such may be applicable to persons with developmental disabilities. Barriers that have previously limited the use of technologies by persons with neurodevelopmental disabilities are disappearing as new technologies that have the potential to substantially augment diagnosis and interventions to enhance the daily lives of persons with these disorders are emerging. While recent and future advances in technology have the potential to transform their lives, cautious and thoughtful evaluation is needed to ensure the technologies provide maximal value. As such, further work is needed to demonstrate feasibility, efficacy, and cost-effectiveness, and technologies should be designed to be optimized for individual use.

Building bridges between basic science and clinical medicine: a liberal arts perspective

A critical issue for improving global health care is to better integrate basic science and clinical practice, as such integration will lead to innovative solutions. In this article, I will present models for how to prepare students to participate effectively on multidisciplinary teams that foster cooperation between scientists, medical centers, biotechnology businesses, and governmental bodies. I will provide examples of training programs in the United States (USA) designed to increase the number of and diversity of scientists and clinicians engaged in bridging basic science and clinical medicine, also called translational research. The training programs target different stages in career development, from pre-medical students through early career faculty, and have varied organisational structures. Many of the programs have existed long enough for institutions to be able to evaluate their effectiveness, and despite the different program contexts, there are key characteristics common to all of the programs that correlate with successful outcomes. Many of these characteristics can be adapted to other career stages and settings. I will summarize these and describe an example of an interdisciplinary, integrated science course for undergraduates that introduces students at the earliest stage of their careers to addressing complex problems through teamwork. Finally, I will provide suggestions for how other institutions can implement training programs that will build bridges between basic science and clinical medicine.

Crowdsourcing in medical research: concepts and applications

Crowdsourcing shifts medical research from a closed environment to an open collaboration between the public and researchers. We define crowdsourcing as an approach to problem solving which involves an organization having a large group attempt to solve a problem or part of a problem, then sharing solutions. Crowdsourcing allows large groups of individuals to participate in medical research through innovation challenges, hackathons, and related activities. The purpose of this literature review is to examine the definition, concepts, and applications of crowdsourcing in medicine. This multi-disciplinary review defines crowdsourcing for medicine, identifies conceptual antecedents (collective intelligence and open source models), and explores implications of the approach. Several critiques of crowdsourcing are also examined. Although several crowdsourcing definitions exist, there are two essential elements: (1) having a large group of individuals, including those with skills and those without skills, propose potential solutions; (2) sharing solutions through implementation or open access materials. The public can be a central force in contributing to formative, pre-clinical, and clinical research. A growing evidence base suggests that crowdsourcing in medicine can result in high-quality outcomes, broad community engagement, and more open science.