“In nothing do men more nearly approach the gods than in giving health to men”
- Cicero (106 B.C. - 43 B.C.)
All luxuries of world would be worth nothing if one doesn’t have the health to enjoy it. Physicians have contributed immensely over centuries to help find cure for diseases. Often dedicating their whole lives and sacrificing their own happiness in order to help the humanity.
Life expectancy of Humans has greatly improved in all the countries that have supported the healthcare inventions.
Unfortunately, the inventors in medicine seem to be only from the past century with just grainy black and white photographs that you can find in some remote websites on the internet.
Life expectancy of Humans has greatly improved in all the countries that have supported the healthcare inventions.
Unfortunately, the inventors in medicine seem to be only from the past century with just grainy black and white photographs that you can find in some remote websites on the internet.
Current problem with Medical Fraternity
Today’s medical profession is under immense pressure to perform their best with limited resources and funding.
The rise in symptom recognition, surveillance, better investigations are bringing a larger number of people to clinics and hospitals, with hope of cure for the diseases, than ever before. Educated and informed patients now seek millions of dollars in compensations for missed diagnosis and wrong treatments which has put the medical fraternity on their toes to do their best and provide good clinical care. The costs of providing healthcare effectively has to balance the funds in hand. The privatisation of healthcare has further commercialised the noble profesion into a business.
In the current medical system, starting from the very first step as a naive medical student to a fully trained specialist; a doctor’s journey has become a structured program that is only designed to produce safe doctors but in reality just creating clones of one another. These methods are killing innovation by eliminating the skills of thinking out of the box in the medical students and doctors.
Medical innovation seems to have been handed over to commercial organisations and the doctors are learning them devices and not inventing their own. The yearly targets for doctors are set by the medical appraisal systems include audits, research, publications and comeptencies as a tickbox exercise. This is completed by doctors to get to next level of career. However, the lack of a quality control on this structure produces substandard research/evidence. Also, the missing chapters on Invention in the medical schooling curriculum is building a bleak future for medicine.
Only a handful of doctors passionate to bring change in the world are making an effort to invent new methods of diagnosing and treating diseases. There is an urgent need to help this group of visionaries with all the knowledge and help to bring new inventions to life. This is the driving force for the information, support and service we provide in this website.
The rise in symptom recognition, surveillance, better investigations are bringing a larger number of people to clinics and hospitals, with hope of cure for the diseases, than ever before. Educated and informed patients now seek millions of dollars in compensations for missed diagnosis and wrong treatments which has put the medical fraternity on their toes to do their best and provide good clinical care. The costs of providing healthcare effectively has to balance the funds in hand. The privatisation of healthcare has further commercialised the noble profesion into a business.
In the current medical system, starting from the very first step as a naive medical student to a fully trained specialist; a doctor’s journey has become a structured program that is only designed to produce safe doctors but in reality just creating clones of one another. These methods are killing innovation by eliminating the skills of thinking out of the box in the medical students and doctors.
Medical innovation seems to have been handed over to commercial organisations and the doctors are learning them devices and not inventing their own. The yearly targets for doctors are set by the medical appraisal systems include audits, research, publications and comeptencies as a tickbox exercise. This is completed by doctors to get to next level of career. However, the lack of a quality control on this structure produces substandard research/evidence. Also, the missing chapters on Invention in the medical schooling curriculum is building a bleak future for medicine.
Only a handful of doctors passionate to bring change in the world are making an effort to invent new methods of diagnosing and treating diseases. There is an urgent need to help this group of visionaries with all the knowledge and help to bring new inventions to life. This is the driving force for the information, support and service we provide in this website.
What to build?
The need of the hour depends on the country, city or the medical system you are working in. The solutions that help improve either your immediate surroundings or inventions that can revolutionise the entire healthcare; it depends what floats your boat. Being an expert in the field may help but also may cause tunnel vision. True story: A school kid , with zero experience in medicine, re-created the design of an existing medical device from scratch when I gave him the initial problem and asked him to solve. Thus, proving again that humans have the innate capability to solve problems in any field but are only awaiting an opportunity to do it.
Medical devices
The is the most tangible of inventions in medicine and ofcourse a lucrative one too. Doctors working in any specialty are bound to be hit with obstacles in their day to day work which results in ideas to sprout. A conscious effort to solve problems not just for us but for a lot of others across the world is the required attitude.
Devices could be diagnostic, therapeutic or adjuncts in the care of patients.
Invention: LMA -laryngeal mask airway used 300million times across the world in elective anaesthesia.
Inventor: Dr. Archie Brain, UK, 1982
Medical Technology
There is growing dependency of medicine on technology to provide efficient healthcare models. Be it Electronic Health Records, radiology systems, pacemaker, health apps or even robotic surgery is fading the line between Medicine and Technology.
Invention: Artificial Heart
Inventor: Robert Jarvik, USA, 1982
Artificial Intelligence
Clinical research in medicine has been the only way to create evidence that supports the best practices in medicine. Physicians spend a whole lifetime in collecting data and analysis. The time taken for a randomised double blinded study to recuit patients and produce results could take years. Ofcourse by which time the disease trends and practices would have changed leading the results to be outdated.
With application of Artificial Intelligence into healthcare, there could be a live feed of research findings that can help us improve practice at a rapid rate.
Invention: Profound- Radiological image analysis for diagnosis CT scans.
Inventor: Zebra Medical Vision, Israel
Medical devices
The is the most tangible of inventions in medicine and ofcourse a lucrative one too. Doctors working in any specialty are bound to be hit with obstacles in their day to day work which results in ideas to sprout. A conscious effort to solve problems not just for us but for a lot of others across the world is the required attitude.
Devices could be diagnostic, therapeutic or adjuncts in the care of patients.
Invention: LMA -laryngeal mask airway used 300million times across the world in elective anaesthesia.
Inventor: Dr. Archie Brain, UK, 1982
Medical Technology
There is growing dependency of medicine on technology to provide efficient healthcare models. Be it Electronic Health Records, radiology systems, pacemaker, health apps or even robotic surgery is fading the line between Medicine and Technology.
Invention: Artificial Heart
Inventor: Robert Jarvik, USA, 1982
Artificial Intelligence
Clinical research in medicine has been the only way to create evidence that supports the best practices in medicine. Physicians spend a whole lifetime in collecting data and analysis. The time taken for a randomised double blinded study to recuit patients and produce results could take years. Ofcourse by which time the disease trends and practices would have changed leading the results to be outdated.
With application of Artificial Intelligence into healthcare, there could be a live feed of research findings that can help us improve practice at a rapid rate.
Invention: Profound- Radiological image analysis for diagnosis CT scans.
Inventor: Zebra Medical Vision, Israel
How do I start ?
So much do in a day of a doctor, how will one find the time to innovate?
I appreciate that we doctors work hard but its about time to work smart.
Firstly, one has to find the purpose for our existence and understand that we doctors are not here to merely sustain the planet but to improve it!
Identify a problem
Problems are the front runners among the triggers for invention (see section 7 triggers for invention for others).
Many medical inventions stemmed out whilst trying to solve a problem like a disease needed a cure.
Quantify the problem
Once you found a problem, you have to measure the size of it and frequency. This will tell you if this is worth the effort to solve. Smaller sized problems also need solution but for your very first of inventions to gather support from investors you need a good market.
Assess existing solutions
Remember, the problem you trying to solve has affected many others who might have solved it fully or partially. Also understand the pitfalls and obstacles the other solutions faced. If you still see a potential then go ahead and assess your invention and patentability (read other sections on this website).
Intellectual Property (IP)
Many organisations have an IP policy that claims all inventions by their employees as their own. You can always work on your ideas outside the work hours but keep a log of this. However, if the organisation has an infrastructure to support bringing your idea to life then its worth pursuing sicne they can cover initial costs and have a revenue share model with the inventor. They do tend to work at a pace lot slower than what you as an inventor likes. Note that if an organisation doesn’t want to pursue patents for your inventions due to cost factor then I promise you are barking up the wrong tree. Either they know the value of patents or it doesn’t know about inventions at all.
I appreciate that we doctors work hard but its about time to work smart.
Firstly, one has to find the purpose for our existence and understand that we doctors are not here to merely sustain the planet but to improve it!
Identify a problem
Problems are the front runners among the triggers for invention (see section 7 triggers for invention for others).
Many medical inventions stemmed out whilst trying to solve a problem like a disease needed a cure.
Quantify the problem
Once you found a problem, you have to measure the size of it and frequency. This will tell you if this is worth the effort to solve. Smaller sized problems also need solution but for your very first of inventions to gather support from investors you need a good market.
Assess existing solutions
Remember, the problem you trying to solve has affected many others who might have solved it fully or partially. Also understand the pitfalls and obstacles the other solutions faced. If you still see a potential then go ahead and assess your invention and patentability (read other sections on this website).
Intellectual Property (IP)
Many organisations have an IP policy that claims all inventions by their employees as their own. You can always work on your ideas outside the work hours but keep a log of this. However, if the organisation has an infrastructure to support bringing your idea to life then its worth pursuing sicne they can cover initial costs and have a revenue share model with the inventor. They do tend to work at a pace lot slower than what you as an inventor likes. Note that if an organisation doesn’t want to pursue patents for your inventions due to cost factor then I promise you are barking up the wrong tree. Either they know the value of patents or it doesn’t know about inventions at all.
The Process
Medical inventions have a longer timeline compared to other invention. Literally, there are about 45 steps to bringing a medical invention into a hospital. Yes, its a long journey. Is it worth pursuing it? Hell ya!
Development
Depending on the complexity of the invention, it could require a collaboration of multiple industries to making it a reality. Mechanical engineering, electronics, biological etc. may all be required for a single device. Careful planning and execution can build a sustainable solution.
Safety
Every medical device needs to undergo rigorous testing in-vitro and in-vivo. Then comes clinical trials and testing in live clinical areas.
Approvals
Every country has its own governing bodies (FDA,MHRA etc) that regulate the Medical device industry in order to maintain good standard and safety. These are sought at the time when you can prove your invention can tick all the long list of criteria that have been set by these organisations.
Development
Depending on the complexity of the invention, it could require a collaboration of multiple industries to making it a reality. Mechanical engineering, electronics, biological etc. may all be required for a single device. Careful planning and execution can build a sustainable solution.
Safety
Every medical device needs to undergo rigorous testing in-vitro and in-vivo. Then comes clinical trials and testing in live clinical areas.
Approvals
Every country has its own governing bodies (FDA,MHRA etc) that regulate the Medical device industry in order to maintain good standard and safety. These are sought at the time when you can prove your invention can tick all the long list of criteria that have been set by these organisations.
What next ?
From the principles of invention to execution, even medical inventions have common pathways with other inventions. Read the other sections in this website to guide your next step in contributing back to Medicine with your inventions.