How to achieve better medical device outcomes through behavior change

Will Randall, ZS Associates [Image courtesy of jar [o] on Flickr, per Creative Commons 2.0 license]I often pause in restaurant bathrooms, amused by the familiar signage above the sink: “Employees must wash hands before returning to work.” Surely everyone washes their hands. While these well-meaning but rather amusing signs are found all over the U.S., do they actually have any impact on improving hygiene practices? Probably not. But what does that have to do with medtech, anyway? Imagine that a hospital introduces a surgeon to a new device by simply hanging a sign over the operating table with one line of instruction. Would anyone just expect that the surgeon will know how to use the device correctly and consistently in every procedure? Devices alone don’t improve outcomes. Better outcomes are only achieved when driven by changes in behaviors across the provider organization. Upgrading hospital equipment and simply notifying clinical staff of the change isn’t enough to achieve outcomes improvements, even if those outcomes are critically important. One of the fundamental factors for medtech value propositions is “achievability”: Medtech companies should do what they can to ensure that the value that their devices are offering to provider organizations is achievable in the real world—and that the devices aren’t just a more expensive way for customers to get the same outcome as the commodity product. How can manufacturers successfully change behaviors to deliver ...
Source: Mass Device - Category: Medical Devices Authors: Tags: Product Liability Recalls ZS Associates Source Type: news