When most people think of novelty items, they are envisioning the trinkets you buy at a party store for a gag birthday gift. But, medical device intellectual property is no laughing matter. In patent parlance, novelty refers to whether an invention is unknown or not used before being filed with the patent office, and is non-obvious. Patent law experts can provide a better legal description of novelty than myself, but from a practical standpoint, I’m more interested in helping doctors gain preliminary insight into the novelty of their ideas? Read More
All participants in medical device product development understand that physician involvement in the process leads to better healthcare. I have argued in the past for an even more active physician role in the early stages of medical device concept development. Patient rights groups, however, worry about conflicts of interest. The conflicts of interest are not the result of participating in the development process, but reflect the hazards of medtech promotional practices. Read More
Researchers at universities, similar to employees of medical device companies, are accustomed to assigning patent rights to their institution in an employment agreement signed during the hiring process. What may not be as obvious is that many non-academic hospitals are now including intellectual property (IP) rights in their physician employment agreements. Read More
For the New Year, here’s a list of ten resolutions for clinicians to further medical device innovation:
1. Commit to every day asking yourself whether the procedures or medical steps you are performing could be done faster, cheaper, or better.
2. Buy a bound (non-spiral) composition notebook for documenting the year 2011 observed clinical needs, ideas, and interactions with others on ideas.
Physicians are clearly the primary clinical innovators due to their education, experience, and specialization. That said, a broad spectrum of non-physician clinicians (e.g. nurses, surgical technologists, surgical assistants, etc.) have the capacity to find inventive solutions to their clinical challenges. Read More
There are many reasons why a doctor may let a great medical device idea gather dust and never see the light of day. Time has to be the greatest culprit, since doctors are busy and developing an idea is like a second job – a job with no training manual. Never mind the time required finding the right resources to support the effort. Money is a second barrier to entry and also impacts resources. The third deterrent is more abstract… FEAR.
So, you are a doctor with a great idea but you don’t know what to do first. How do you get started in turning your concept into a medical device product that can be used in the clinic?
As an engineer with years of experience prototyping and developing physician conceived medical devices, I have been searching the Internet for a physician inventors’ forum. My logic is simple; if I want to get innovative doctors to use my services, go where they congregate. Obviously, there must be a user’s group or forum on the Internet for physician inventors; a place to share tips and contacts, or just to commiserate. Facebook™ is a complete disappointment, with minimal participation in business groups. LinkedIn™ has several groups, such as The Doctor-Engineer Connection, Medical Device Inventors and Healthcare Innovation by Design, which I have joined. These groups have a limited number of physicians and those involved are typically tied to a medical device company or service provider. Read More
