The Clinic of Innovation

We`ve helped bring another innovation clinic to the world!

2012-03-02T10:44:00.000+01:00

- The clinic of innovation has for the last three years been helping Denmark birth their own Idea Clinic. We are excited about the sustainable innovation environment in Aalborg and the North-Jylland Region of Denmark! Joy and expectation. For a new life. And the personality that the new person develops. The expectations are great, and the responsibility are at times weighing heavily.

A good laugh makes you live longer?

2012-03-01T13:26:00.000+01:00

We welcome everything that creates laughter and joy in children and adults. This is a tribute to the hospital`s clown service. The children are all alone in bed for days, and there is no room for the adults to stay with them. As an ear-nose-throat doctor, I have also heard many stories from worried adult patients, who are also all alone in the hospital. That was then. Now, we have a different

If you try you learn?

2012-02-27T14:02:00.004+01:00

In our excitement, we forget that we believe the time it takes to succeed often needs to be multiplied by pi. And that the knowledge base needs to be good enough before we begin. If you hand pick four champion rowers for a boat for four, expecting a champion record before the team has managed to establish a unified rhythm is not very smart. The merging of hospitals is often presented as the

Playful learning

2012-02-24T08:51:00.000+01:00

The gaming community in Hamar, Norway, has opened its doors – and we are very impressed. Making learning in health fun – check this out! Like a dance, the child’s fingers glides over the board. No training, everything is intuitive… Combining play with learning makes learning easier. The nanny’s fingers are not far behind, but granddad struggles… Oslo Medtech was founded on the idea of building

Enjoy getting well through playing

2012-02-22T12:19:00.000+01:00

Sunnaas is at the forefront in showing how gaming technology can be used in rehabilitation and training – in making it easy and fun. The snow is falling. Sledding, children’s laughter – and full speed ahead. Snow – the children’s best winter friend? Then, the skills just form on their own. From duty to desire. Playful games are an undervalued learning method. New technology creates

Follow us...

2012-02-20T09:17:00.000+01:00

Innovation is coming up with something new or thinking creatively about something old! Innovation is thinking new. Social media and social networks on the Internet do not only represent new ways of obtaining health information. They also contribute to a power shift: the patients do not only wish to be the focus, they want to sit in the driver’s seat! Social media and social networks on the

Wait and see...

2012-02-17T09:51:00.000+01:00

Those who wait for something good do not wait in vain. Smart minds in the hospital work on new and exciting ideas to make your waiting times more predictable. I’m happy to admit it. I’m not one of the most patient people when waiting for my turn in line. We all have experiences from waiting in a queue on the phone. A looooong time can pass from when a friendly voice tells you that you are number

Making sure that the new is useful

2012-02-15T08:30:00.000+01:00

This year, Norwegian hospitals are following the lead of those who have already implemented a new national system for assessing new medical technology and treatment procedures. Most of us probably have some poor investments behind us. Do you have any unused apps on your cell phone, or is everything that you’ve ever downloaded equally useful? Tempting new offers can be difficult to resist,

Denmark leads the way…

2012-02-13T10:22:00.000+01:00

How do health care institutions contribute to making sure that everything that is new comes to good use – regardless of where you live and which part of the health service you belong to? Denmark have ‘usefulness’ on the agenda.Have you been there? A demure country – with smiles, fun and humour. A Copenhagen full of hospitality. It’s good to be Norwegian in Denmark. A culture to learn from. The

Between life and death

2012-02-10T17:10:00.003+01:00

Why are palliative treatment and geriatrics so challenging? Do we have unrealistic expectations for what Norwegian health care can fix – and when is enough, enough? The questions are many, the patients many, weak and often incurably sick. Communication is a challenge – when hearing and vision fails, situations can be misunderstood. Communication is also about giving comfort and consolation.

Cautious and radical?

2012-02-08T10:53:00.004+01:00

New results from stroke research suggest that emergency personnel need to make careful considerations when deciding whether or not to lower blood pressure in the emergency phase. Have you reflected upon your important role as a contributor to these decisions? Information from you as a patient give us critical knowledge – that’s how knowledge comes to good use. Else Charlotte Sandset and Eivind

We meet at the Clinic of Innovation

2012-02-06T08:23:00.000+01:00

- A clinic that you can refer yourself to – for all smart minds with ideas that can benefit patients, employees and society at large. The Clinic of Innovation is simply a clinic for ideas; we opened our doors for everyone in 2007. Kari J. Kværner and Mona Helén Rønningsen: Welcome to The Clinic of Innovation! Oslo University hospital was the first Norwegian hospital to open an idea clinic.

The future in the crystal ball

2012-02-03T11:02:00.000+01:00

- Any plans of staying in a hospital in year 2020? Get ready for airport check-ins, robots, ultrasound surgery,and entirely new antibiotics! ”That was back in the day…” When surgeries for stomach pains immediately implied that we would be using invasive techniques, when ”plug hole surgery” for knee pains didn’t exist, and – when they used typewriters instead of PCs by the patient bed. When we

Bright minds

2012-02-01T17:25:00.000+01:00

If you’re one of those who can’t imagine a life without the smart phone and reading boards: it is still Thomas Edison who scores highest on the list of the world's best inventors! Hard of hearing, extremely curious – and long experience with experiments in the basement. In 1879 he patented the light bulb – a glowing thread that burned for 40 hours. Not even Steve Jobs’ Apple beats him. That

Waiting times down – step by step

2012-01-30T18:27:00.000+01:00

We who work with innovation believe that it is important to make visible all the great work that is being performed at our hospital. At the same time we want creative suggestions on how departments and individuals can make improvements that benefit the patient. Reduced waiting times for treating prostate cancer is good news at our hospital. We still have as a goal to reduce the waiting time from

Watch and listen

2012-01-27T08:12:00.000+01:00

The joy of feeling like someone’s listening. The opportunity to promote personal ideas and opinions creates room for action. But it also generates trust and belief in the organisation. Our new director is regularly being observed “around the house”. He comes quietly, he listens, and is present. In a large organisation, it can be a challenge to obtain the big picture, whilst making sure that you

"Just a wound" is no joke!

2012-01-25T10:29:00.003+01:00

- When I was an assistant in a nursing home, I remember the frustrations surrounding the treatment of leg wounds and bed sores – now the skin department in our hospital is thinking new! Several times I had to travel with a patient from the nursing home to the hospital, as support. It was always a long and tiresome day, both for the patient and me. Often, the medical information about the patient

The exchange

2012-01-23T06:28:00.000+01:00

When many hospitals become one – how do we make sure that each and every one feels cared for? We put our faith in good knowledge sharing between the people who know where the shoe pinches and those that decide in which direction to go. In the old days, you needed a watch to follow the time. The cogs in the watch were fundamental to its functioning. One faulty cog could stop the clock. But it

How long do you have to wait when you’re number 23 in the queue?

2012-01-20T07:45:00.000+01:00

Photo: Oslo University Hospita If you walk in the halls of Rikshospitalet, one of Oslo University Hospital’s buildings, you would be met with a long queue of people waiting to take their blood tests. Eva Grønn, one of the leaders of the department of medical biochemistry made us aware of this – the queues and the waiting hours. We’ve become a large hospital with many different systems for

How do we separate the wheat from the chaff?

2012-01-18T08:30:00.000+01:00

The Clinic of Innovation focuses on making sure that new solutions benefit employees, patients, their families and the hospital at large. We are now creating methods for cost-effectiveness analyses of projects that have a potential for making a difference. We wish to “separate the wheat from the chaff” with these methods instead of using “qualified hunches”. These days, the Clinic of

Keeping up with time...

2012-01-16T07:39:00.000+01:00

Things change – and we have to change our approach. For the benefit of those who work in the hospital – and those who need us. Do you remember when a heart attack meant 3 weeks bed rest and that stomach ulcers meant surgery? Today’s heart friendly treatments send you home the next day. An ulcer no longer means surgery. Today we know that the bacteria Helocobacter pylori creates stomach ulcers and

1-2-3 Serve!

2012-01-13T08:51:00.000+01:00

- Have you ever wondered how the hospital kitchen manage to serve all the patients hot food at the same time? Photo: Clinic of Innovation Oslo University Hospital consists of 4 hospitals with different kitchens. Department leader Vidar Arnesen and his co-workers quickly reacted upon the desire of employees and patients to increase flexibility in the serving of dinner… The challenge was

It's amazing how the world begins to change through the eyes of a cup of coffee! - Donna A. Favors

2012-01-11T14:49:00.006+01:00

Where are the meeting areas for everyone who works in a hospital? Some you’ll meet in the cafeteria, others rush quickly past. There are very few places to meet where there is room for important discussions. Oslo University Hospital’s Thursday and Friday meetings at our four locations have such a purpose. The Friday meeting at Ullevål is an interdisciplinary meeting with members from the clinics

# 1 priority?

2012-01-09T08:24:00.000+01:00

- When learning, memory, decision-making and language becomes affected in dementia: is safety or wellness-of-being issue # 1 priority to help improve the quality of life of our dear ones? The day had to come. When the driver’s licence was withdrawn from aunt Anne. Replaced by numerous technical safety gadgets to protect her from injuries caused by Alzheimer memory loss. As I watched the

Miracle hands

2012-01-06T08:19:00.000+01:00

- Medical breakthroughs is a result of continuous efforts to improve diagnostics and treatment. And - the miracle hands of numerous anonomous health care workers. As a 6 year old I was convinced that all I needed to become a fluent biker was a brand new and shining bike. I was soon to learn that assiduosity; hard work and the will power to keep practicing was what eventually would bring me there

Ain't no cure for...?

2012-01-04T08:30:00.000+01:00

- As health care workers each of us have a responsibility to improve patient treatment and care. An innovative and adaptible hospital culture is an important prerequisite to "find the cure". As my children learned to walk, parenting temporarily became exhaustive. Tempting opportunities, increased mobility and the childhood expanded horizon also was associated with bodily imbalance, unsafety

Tour de Innovation 2012

2012-01-02T16:10:00.000+01:00