Dr. Innovation to the R&D Lab, STAT

As bioscience and medical device companies strive to stay innovative, a trend is emerging. Surgeons are joining the front lines and helping companies innovate at the ground level to create better products. Coupled with the exponential rate at which new technologies are developed, surgeon-led innovation is changing the landscape for what is possible in healthcare.
 
Traditionally, medical research and development begins with medical device companies and ends with surgeons. Today, early collaboration between inventors, developers, and medical professionals is yielding the development of a number of amazing new technologies and eliminating much of the need for later redevelopment.
 
Who better to provide insight into creating unique solutions that fill a need while being financially viable than the medical professionals at ground zero in the operating room?
 
How Do Surgeons Benefit?
From a developmental standpoint, surgeon recommendations are the holy grail of information. But from the surgeon’s standpoint, their early involvement in the creation of new technologies is equally beneficial.
 
First, surgeons are perhaps the most equipped personnel to change, challenge, and create medical technologies, but most of them do not have the time to commit to entrepreneurism. Getting involved with their own first-hand insight allows surgeons to share their ideas and help mold the features and outcome of the product.
 
It is also critical that the learning curve is not too sharp, as learning and perfecting new technologies takes time, something many surgeons are short on. Whether surgeons are learning a new surgical approach or how to handle a new implant, ease-of-use is vital to the product’s life and vitality in the operating room.
 
When surgeons join in early, they significantly help themselves later in the game.
 
How Do Patients Benefit?
For patients, expedited innovation means faster, superior outcomes. Issues with current technology are immediately brought to the attention of developers, specific issues are foreseen, and valuable feedback and solutions are provided prior to clinical trials. The rate at which new surgery options become available to patients is significantly increased.
 
In the past decade, spinal fusion surgery has moved from an intensive in-patient procedure to a procedure that can, in some cases, be performed in an outpatient setting. In some cases, spinal fusion patients are even returning home the same day.
 
This is innovation at its best. This is what surgeons bring to the table. This is the future of medical technology.
 
The Bottom Line
Many companies are including surgeons in their R&D process. Medical device company TranS1 has even created an entire “innovation R&D team” comprised of surgeons, inventors, and other experts to help lead the way with positive outcomes.
 
Surgeon-led innovation puts those with the most experience in the driver’s seat, creating an unprecedented level of detailed forethought into new medical devices and technologies. These innovative products, ideas, and concepts are changing health and wellness for the future. Cost-effective innovations that can be performed efficiently, achieving fast recovery times and individualized results are paving the way for new possibilities.