Yes it is worth while!

It’s not always easy to see improvements from day to day, but over time, we at the Clinic of Innovation see that being innovative is paying off.

Two years ago, he was at the clinic with me. Today I met him again - at a conference in Amsterdam. A colleague and an ear-nose-throat doctor from Haukeland. The idea he brought to the Clinic of Innovation in Oslo was good. In Bergen, he didn’t know of any place he could bring it to. Today, Helly-Hansen have taken his idea further - and Haukeland are on the path to get their innovation clinic.

We at the Clinic of Innovation are so lucky to have contact with groups who think innovatively both inside and outside our hospital. Many innovators strongly believe in the importance of ensuring that the hospital utilizes and improves upon the knowledge and experiences it has. The course of treatment can be shortened with the right skills - in the right place - at the right time. The examples are manyfold. Some think innovatively by testing a model with the most experienced doctors in the front line to assess the hospital’s emergency capabilities/services. To the Dermatology Department, increasing competences about sore treatment outside the hospital is important.
Bottlenecks can be solved - but first of all they must be identified. Your watchful eye is essential - please contact us. - Kari K

Health care on an assembly line 2012

- The intention behind the standardization and rule-based processing is good, but now is the time to think new before we administrate ourselves into a ditch...My lovely friend keeps me updated about life as a patient in the hospital. Here is his latest story:
I waited an hour and a half, this time. The doctor was a bit confused when I came in and didn’t know why I was there, seeing as the usual control after surgeries apparently is after 3 months. Now, only 3 weeks had passed. And they had already checked the incisional wound a week ago when I was at the hospital. I asked whether the results of the tissue tests after the surgery had come. He said he thought that they hadn’t, but checked anyway. And guess what: they had come - and were absolutely fine – there wasn’t even anything wrong with the lymphatic system. Good prognosis, he said. Boy, am I happy!Great amounts of resources are used to ensure the quality of treatment we offer our patients. That the professional standard is good, it is beyond any doubt. But are we ready to think creatively about the new assembly line structure of the organization of monitoring and controls? We’re just asking... - Kari K

911 in new clothing?

That getting hold of a doctor can be a challenge, is reflected in the new GP regulations. In the county Sogn og Fjordane in Norway, they have established an online service that gives you access to a doctor in a few minutes. That’s innovative!




It’s a given today. Movie tickets ordered from home. The same is true of theatre. It is no longer necessary to stand in line to wait for your turn. Not to mention the endless wait on the phone. The Internet has revolutionized the orders. 


Have you ever wondered why it should be so difficult to make an appointment with your doctor, not to mention to get medical advice via the Internet? Privacy has stood in the way - as a firewall. With pleasure we record a new initiative to improve access to medical information. Innovation Norway in the county Sogn og Fjordane support entrepreneurs who have started medical services on the Internet - and guarantee you contact with skilled practitioners in minutes. Mjørma is the place!
First ambience report: increase manpower required after only a week’s operation. We promise to keep up with the growth of the company! - Kari K

http://www.gulen.kommune.no/den-innovative-oeya.5042485.html

Key success of innovation

- Lesson to be learned from business and industry: The analogy to the innovative Ikea flat-pack concept is for health care to succeed in the simultaneous adoption  of organizational changes at the same time as we introduce new treatment technology.

We note with pleasure the Tekna General
Ivar Kristiansen Horneland statement that new technology need to be viewed in a holistic perspective. "The main challenge of innovation in Norway is the lack of a common understanding of innovation. Innovation is not simply product improvements, the potential is in identifying business models and new customer needs rather a millimeter width correction in a current product."

The key success of IKEA is not the furniture itself, but how in the holistic approach to furniture - as a "flat pack"... Corresponingly, for the health care system new technology, new drug or surgery is not a success n itself; it requires the organizational changes to accompany the introduction of new treatments. And a thorough documentation of its benefits. - Kari K

http://www.tu.no/jobb/2012/04/27/-vi-fokuserer-for-mye-pa-teknologi

It is spring!

- If we’ve understood the Research Council correctly, they’re inviting us all to come toghether to share thoughts and ideas on innovation. What is to be grown and then harvested? Crops we desperately need - innovation in the public sector!

The seed of life. The first flower appearing. Odor of expectations - to the good life. Nothing is like spring.

That it’s not an easy task to get hold of the means to aid innovation - or for that matter, to offer it in the correct "format" - is a fact. We who have worked in the interface between knowledge development and innovation for years, have felt it.
Now, the Research Council promises to shine a big beam of light on innovation in the public sector. We’ve been invited to share our thoughts, and look forward to making contributions on how to successfully innovate in the public sector. We choose to believe that it is moving towards a new spring for innovation! - Kari K

Taking the pulse?

- To the Norwegian writer Falkberget, the newspaper article was "the pulse of the present". 

The patient Theresa Rustad thanks 
the doctors, nurses and other hospital staffs 
for saving her life.

But how well does the media describe the varied rhythm and pace of the pulse? Here are two newspaper clippings from two consecutive days in the capital city newspaper. The journalist perspective and the patient perspective. Food for thought...
A privilege in medicine is the trust that is created between the patient and the health care professional. There are many good stories, but it is not exactly a government secret that journalists rarely run down doors to fill the front pages with success stories.

Innovation and communication are like to sides of the same coin - showing and sharing new ideas for the benefit of patients and staff requires visibility. - Kari K

 

A double-edged sword?

- Aquisitions is the new mantra to innovation in the UK - an important part of the new strategy to provide more health for the money.

"Big Brother" has spoken, the NHS in England. Now, it’s all about aquisitions. But - for once, Norway is quickly there – the Department of Health and Care Services has told those of us who work with innovation to deliver on the following in 2012:
Increased innovation activity through the use of public procurement, pre-commercial agreements and projects with suppliers.

Double-edged sword? Who dares to take risks with new solutions and smaller suppliers when funds for investments in equipment are in short supply and to replace the defective equipment is problematic? Here we have fresh in memory an IT risk with a price tag of 160 million ...We’re just asking ... - Kari K
*Http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/iriks/article4121836.ece

The ability to make a difference

Indefinable qualities set the significant apart from the insignificant.

Completely unexpected. One of our greatest athletes of all time died suddenly of cardiac arrest. “The man behind the sportsman was so great and generous. He made everyone feel good,” says his coach.

 

In respect of Alexander Dale Oen, who dedicated his world championship gold to the victims of Regjeringskvartalet and Utøya, three days after the terror shook Norway. “It was a terrible time, to say the least. I still have problems talking about it now,” said the swimmer, on the 25^th July 2011, when he won Norway’s first gold medal in swimming.

 

What keeps health workers in hospitals when the challenges seem insurmountable and solutions seem miles away? For many of us that believe we are making a tiny difference. For our patients.

 

The goodness lies in the indefinable. - Kari K.

Blood tests inTime

No more queues for blood testing? Thank the creativity and efforts of employees!

Information about waiting times is on screens in the glass gate at Rikshospitalet hospital, and “your turn” via SMS is coming!

inTime is the hospital’s attempt at making sure that you and me are not met by mile long queues when we come for a blood test. Innovation funding from the regional health authority Health South-East has made it possible for the department for biochemistry to get far in developing a new system. How far? Here’s a little status update: “We are in the production phase of the actual system, with programming and production of various screens. The plan is to implement the new system in three local areas at Rikshosopitalet in July 2012.”

This is innovation! – Kari K.

Illness as an existential challenge

The dialogue between health care professionals and patients is essential in the management of illness and health related questions. Jan Frich, doctor at the Neurological department at Oslo university hospital and professor at the University of Oslo made a thoughtprovoking speech at one of the hospital’s Friday meetings.

”The existential meaning of illness is probably negotiated differently now than how it was in earlier times. Meetings with health personnel, reading of literary texts, and exchange of patient organisations, blogs and other social media are among the many venues where the individual is seeking answers. What characterises the stories of illness in our time? What role do we have as health professionals in the patient’s quest for meaning?

In the face of threats is the basic human need to search for meaning. Through the sharing of events or situations, individuals can present their own experiences and establish an understanding of cause, blame and responsibility: what is the reason that I became sick now? Managers don’t always have good answers to questions like these, and it’s not always certain that a medical explanation will make sense to the patient. Sickness will also often challenge a patient’s identity: who am I now that this has happened?

Illness has a major place in the life of modern man, and many people publish stories about their own experiences with sickness. Such autobiographical accounts may become the key to how others interpret their own situation, and can also affect how a patient copes with their sickness and how they interact with health services. It is important to consider that those who publish books or write blogs are possibly more resourceful than many other patients, and so their experiences may not be valid for everyone.

Health personnel can be assigned the role of hero, ally or enemy in each patient’s story. Clinicians wander in and out of such stories every day and they are assigned different roles in the accounts of chaos, war, or during the journey into the landscape of the sickness. A sensitivity to how each person experiences their own situation could improve communication with the patient.

It is important for clinicians to recognise that hospital patients will be involved in meaningful and existential “work” that takes place parallel to the professional work. The hospital can help to strengthen the individual patient by allowing them to put their experiences into their own words, and by creating places where people that have been in the same situation can meet and exchange experiences.

Will to get up!

- Good patient care needs the appropriate medical choices – and a caring, firm hand in training

This blog is also to show some of the great things that are happening in our hospital. Here is a recent report, from someone that has been through a complicated procedure – and has begun training:

"In the weekends there is a Northener of the direct and slightly rough type on watch here. I have been used to lying here like a queen and having food served to me. Last night, she said that I was spoiled. “Get up and get the food yourself!” She did, however, help to carry the tray for me. Today she came back. “Are you planning on lying there in that nightshirt all day? You need to put something else on!” The operation I have been through makes getting dressed a challenge – no, that was no obstacle. A dress is a good thing, I learned. And, make-up, just needs to be put on. So believe it or not, I am lying here now ready to put on eyeshadow. Fantastic lady!"

Every little piece of the puzzle is important when it comes to patient treatment. How do we ensure a grease free machine, with sufficient expertise in all areas? - Kari K.

Owning or leasing?

Innovation is also about thinking new about something old… Why own when you can rent – shouldn’t that be the case for medical-technical equipment in hospitals?


Are you one of those people who have chosen to lease a car instead of buying one? Who replaces the car loan with a monthly payment, giving you complete control of how much the car actually costs, making sure you always have a new car – and do not need to worry about not being able to sell the car later?

It’s time to think new about equipment here in the hospital too. We no longer buy copy machines, we lease them. Imagine if all medical technical equipment at the hospital could have been leased – in the same way as our copiers? So that updates and maintenance of equipment became a manageble task even for a hospital with old buildings and equipment?

That would be innovation! - Kari K

One day at the Clinic of Innovation

• Opening hours from 08:00-15:30 Monday - Friday
• Visiting address: Building 2H, 2. floor. Ullevål hospital in Kirkeveien
• We accept ideas on our web page - open 24 hours
• You do not need to be referred, but we appreciate it if you make an appointment with us before your visit. 
• We offer help and guidance on the ideas we receive, and also in the later stages – as in the beginning of an innovation project. 
• We make good ideas and innovation projects visible through digital stories and social medias. 
• We are building up a unit whose task is to evaluate process- and service changes that are implemented (tested) in the hospital, with focus on patient value, employee value and costs.
• We have a large network that we gladly share with others
• We happily welcome visitors from other health care institutions who are interested to learn more about the way we run our idea clinic.
• We share our knowledge with everyone! 

Welcome!www.idepoliklinikken.no  (in Norwegian. Get in touch if you have questions)
e-mail: idepoliklinikken@ous-hf.no

Pointing the way

Signposts not only tell you where to go in hospitals, they are also a signal of what we can expect there. Words generate expectations and interpretations…

When signs such as “isolation”, “radiation bunkers”, “cell poison [chemotherapy]” and “the pain clinic” light up in front of you, in which direction does your mind go?

One of the engaged workers that we cooperate with in the Norwegian Cancer Organization pointed out something interesting to us. Making sure that our patients receive clear, logical information through signposting is an important part of hospital operations, and to those of us who work in a hospital, the wording is familiar. But to the patient who only rarely visits, the words and the roads they have to take are of great consequence.

Our hospital still does not have permanent places for its services. The sign posting is therefore also far from optimal. How can we make good temporary signs? We need to remind ourselves who the signs are for – and what we want to say. Perhaps we should invest in good and understandable signs – NOW. The signs are supposed to help the patients find their way – and explain what the department actually does. Not an easy task…

The hospital’s values are quality, safety and respect. Do you have suggestion for better choice of words and improved temporary sign posting? The Clinic of innovation is happy to receive your suggestions and ideas – get in touch with us at www.idepoliklinikken.no or idepoliklinikken@ous-hf.no. - Kari K

England leads the way!

England leads the way in prioritising health issues. In their new report, the National Health Service (NHS) strongly connect innovation to health and welfare.

NHS is the governmental health care institution in Great Britain. With 1,3 million employees, NHS is the greatest employer in Europe, and one of the largest in the world. NHS recently described their expectations to radical changes in health care delivery.

They emphasise innovation as “core business” to succeed in this task. We quote them:

“Our ambition is an NHS with committing engagement in innovation, made visible through support for research and through succeeding in using the best and most innovative of ideas, products, services and clinical practice.”

This holds good promise. The Clinic of Innovation will do its very best to make sure that Norway follows. – Kari K

Happy easter!

The Clinic of Innovation wishes all its readers a very happy, sunny and creative easter.

Lego + bloodbank = true

The Copenhagen region in Denmark take the health care challenges seriously. We let ourselves get fascinated by the way the Danes bring health care and industry together.

You’ll find them around the legos. Your doctor, the nurses and the blood bank employees. A pretty average day. There, the model for the new expedition at their hospital’s bloodbank.

We got a visit from the leader of Centre for Health Care Innovation in the Copenhagen region, Susie Ruff, and definately let ourselves get inspired. Great innovation projects and innovation-workshops are brought through the organization – for inspiration and use for the health care institution. The most important experience? In the field that arise when the various professions and industry sit down together, there are unique opportunities to find new solutions. And the very best results? That’s when the prototype is shaped by the parties together, says Susie. – Kari K.

Do you want to know more? Read about the bloodbank of the future and Centre for Health Care Innovation here: http://www.regionh.dk/CenterforSundhedsinnovation/Menu/Vores+Projekter/Blodbankens+fremtidige+modtageomr%C3%A5de/

One day at Oslo University Hospital

The hospital’s main focus areas are treatment of patients, research, innovation and education of health care personnel and training of patients and relatives.

Oslo University Hospital have 1,2 million patient treatments per year, 17 300 employees, 17,3 billion NOK on the budget, and exist on over 950 000 square metres divided between about 325 buildings.



Seksjonsleder Terje G. Størkersen



This happens in the hospital on ONE day:
3300 patients are treated
360 ambulance missions
1800 patient transports
2000 internal transports
26 babies are born
48,4 million NOK in budget
15000 people are at work
2160 dinners are served
15 ton bed sheets and uniforms are washed

Oslo University Hospital is a local hospital for the 6 areas of Oslo, area hospital for 12 nearby areas, regional hospital for the Eastern and Southern part of the country and a national hospital within expert medical fields.

As you see, we have lots to do and the activity is buzzing. The hospital have excellent workers and good ideas about how we can get even better and work smarter. The Clinic of Innovation also welcomes ideas from patients, relatives and industry: www.idepoliklinikken.no. (in Norwegian). Get in touch with us!

Humour does the trick

Through long-term reorganizations, the weirdest situations may arise, but luckily enough - the patients have humour!

One of my friends has frequent contact with our hospital. He visits a jigsaw puzzle of different departments – and is actually treated very well. Medically, that is. Over time, he has acquired a great local knowledge about our various localizations. (325 buildings!)

What have I learned? That my friend has an admirable ability to choose humour over irritation when weird situations arise.

Here is today’s:

”It went well in the hospital today, full narcosis and several doctors present. They are going to look at the images this afternoon and I’ll get the answer tomorrow. The only problem is that it apparently was very tricky to get a light bulb fixed, so I went to the toilet in the dark… I wonder if I should offer to change their light bulb tomorrow?”

Priceless, if you ask me. – Kari K

Stare status

As the Michelin brothers would have said – «An extremely good restaurant in its category» - to which we add that good culture is in the foundations.

Can it be said that serving the right food to the right person at the right time is a simple matter? I myself have difficulties in serving a three course meal to 12 people. How do we solve the challenge of serving food in 81 different places at once, when everyone wants food at specified times?

We have experienced that ourselves. Great food, great choice, and high ambitions. In my opinion, food serving at Oslo University Hospital is of star status. Today our Danish guest from the Centre of Health Innovation, Susie Ruff, has not only received great food, but has also been shown around the main kitchen at Ullevål, an innovative and professional workplace where organization and quality are of the highest level.

They have the recipe for success themselves: «There is love in every meatball». If you’re wondering what their motto is, you can get it here: Why is it that we never have time to do a job properly, but always have the time to do it again?  - Kari K.  


http://vimeo.com/28927660
http://vimeo.com/29662459

The wealth of ideas

As Norway`s first hospital with an innovation strategy, we are determined to create a culture for sharing and receiving knowledge.

As the illustration implies - a vision is necessary! This is our:


Oslo University Hospital will become one of Europe`s leading hospitals in health care innovation. The hospital will be renowned for its forward leaning innovation culture, as well as its expert research & development laboratory in the Norwegian health care sector. The hospital will appear as an attractive workplace where employees contribute to the development, validation and use of the best treatment principles for current and future patients. - Kari K.

The beating 3 dimensional heart

To make sure that ideas become useful to the users, testing and cooperation between the idea’s developers and those who treat the patient is necessary – thus, the contribution of health care institutions is indispensable.

Is it possible that soon we will be able to look into the room where the foetus is growing and developing? If we are to believe the Research Council, any Norwegian doctor will be able to look closely at the hearts and kidneys of their patients, or children in their mum’s womb.

Ultra sound have been used for a long time, but only recently has it been possible to see a cross section of a heart or foetus. GE Vingmed Ultrasound in Horten have developed this tool further. And as project leader Bjørn Olstad neatly put it: “The technology will be available to the primary health care over time. At that point the doctor will have a small iPod-like instrument hanging around his or her neck, and when we look over at the computer, it’s our own beating heart that pops up on the screen.”
Is this what Neil Young was thinking about in his song “Heart of Gold”, perhaps? – Kari K.

http://www.forskningsradet.no/prognett-ia/Helse_og_bioteknologi/1226993721815

The baton is received

The Innovation department at Oslo University Hospital has received their yearly mission from their regional health authority. It’s good to know that we are considered indispensable in the job of seeing through the wishes of the Ministry of Health and Care Services for health care innovation in 2012.

The baton is passed on!
The mission is among other things to increase the amount of innovation – research related and need driven – which means that we need to focus on implementing new products, services, diagnostics- and treatment methods, organisational processes and solutions that contribute to increased quality, effectiveness, cost effectiveness, cooperation across healthcare institutions and general patient care.

But we can’t do this without several exchanges!
Your idea, from you as an employee, patient or industry is necessary to contribute to smart solutions that benefit the patient. We look forward to being a good support system for creative, driven innovators, so that the abovementioned innovations will be useful to the patients and Norwegian health care.

Come for a chat – you can find us at: http://www.idepoliklinikken.no/!

The world’s toughest dilemma?

How do you help as many patients as possible – in the best possible way? To health care leaders, costs will always be a challenge, and the feeling of never having enough money will always be there…

"Now there`s a perfect example of something
that`s not cost effective, fire him!"

What provides the greatest value to the patient – a new treatment procedure, a new medical technology or smart organisational changes?

How can you save money without affecting the patients? Where should the decision to ignore treatment methods that have positive effects because the cost is too high lie?

It is no easy job when it’s about human lives. Health care leaders have a big and difficult job prioritising choices regarding patient treatments. Our job in the Clinic of Innovation is to offer assistance to innovators who wish to show the effects of their innovation. By showing results that point to potential losses or gains to patients, employees and healthcare costs, we hope to aid the decision makers the best way we can. The clever ideas are our ”patients”.

What is the value of change?

As mentioned in a previous blog, the skin department in our hospital has started an innovation and healthcare cooperation project to move the treatment of nursing home patients with chronic wounds from the hospital to the nursing homes – the Ambulant Wound Team.

The Clinic of Innovation’s job is to map the value of the project together with the project leaders. The project will affect a lot of people – patients and employees. It will change treatment practices, processes and routines in the hospital and the nursing homes and may influence society’s health costs.

The evaluations that the Clinic of Innovation carry out, are grounded in the main goal of the project: improved flow of information about the patient and treatment procedures, and to improve treatment of chronic wounds. The Clinic of Innovation acts as project support, and contributes in discussions, illustrating the treatment process graphically before and after intervention, and evaluating effects such as saved costs in patient transport and overtime. In addition, we will conduct interviews of the wound team and the nursing home employees 6 and 12 months after the launching. We are excited to see what we will find!

The main focus is to get a direct dialogue between health care personnel that deal directly with the patient, as well as shared knowledge as a result of treating the patients’ wounds together. The Ambulant wound team wants to make sure that competences are moved from the hospital to the nursing home, and the desired result is that the need for consults at the hospital is reduced, to the benefit of the patient.

A digital story about the project in Norwegian here: http://vimeo.com/38350041

An earlier blog about the project: http://clinic-of-innovation.blogspot.com/2012/01/just-sore-is-no-joke.html