Turning Practicing Surgeons Into Health Technology Innovators: Outcomes From the Stanford Biodesign Faculty Fellowship

Application of the Stanford Biodesign Framework in Healthcare Innovation Training and Commercialization of Market Appropriate Products: A Scoping Review

The Stanford Biodesign needs-centric framework can guide healthcare innovators to successfully adopt the 'Identify, Invent and Implement' framework and develop new healthcare innovations products to address patients' needs. This scoping review explored the application of the Stanford Biodesign framework for healthcare innovation training and the development of novel healthcare innovative products. Seven electronic databases were searched from their respective inception dates till April 2023: PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Web of Science, Scopus, ProQuest Dissertations, and Theses Global. This review was reported according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis extension for Scoping Reviews and was guided by the Arksey and O'Malley's scoping review framework. Findings were analyzed using Braun and Clarke's thematic analysis framework. Three themes and eight subthemes were identified from the 26 included articles. The main themes are: (1) Making a mark on healthcare innovation, (2) Secrets behind success, and (3) The next steps. The Stanford Biodesign framework guided healthcare innovation teams to develop new medical products and achieve better patient health outcomes through the induction of training programs and the development of novel products. Training programs adopting the Stanford Biodesign approach were found to be successful in improving trainees' entrepreneurship, innovation, and leadership skills and should continue to be promoted. To aid innovators in commercializing their newly developed medical products, additional support such as securing funds for early start-up companies, involving clinicians and users in product testing and validation, and establishing new guidelines and protocols for the new healthcare products would be needed.

A General Education Course in Medical Devices Innovation at Zhejiang University

Innovation and development in medical devices are of great significance for overcoming the problems such as the increasing costs of healthcare and the widening societal inequity in medical technologies. This paper presents the design and outcomes of a general education course in medical devices innovation offered for an eight-week quarter each year since Spring 2018 at Zhejiang University. The course consists of two modules, lectures and team project, both of which are well designed based on the entire innovation process spanning needs finding, concept generation, prototyping, and strategy development. A professional teaching team with eight experts from various disciplines and institutes has been established as well. Since its inception, 296 students from 34 majors have participated and 71 original projects have been proposed. The results of self-assessment questionnaires showed that the course had equipped students with broader fundamentals and specialized knowledge, and stronger skills in innovation and teamwork, which provide a solid foundation for students' future innovation practice.