scholarly journals The COVID Pandemic and Surgical Innovation in the United States

2021 ◽  
pp. 155335062110053
Author(s):  
Toby Gordon

The SARS-COVID-2019 pandemic of 2020 severely weakened the surgical innovation pipeline and ecosystem, primarily due to factors that include lack of a coordinated federal response, weakened health insurance coverage, a politicized approach to public health and safety, and disruption of the US economy. A successful bench to bedside innovation requires trust in the scientific research, open research and clinical facilities, and participation of patients in clinical studies. In addition, stay-at-home orders and the shutdown of elective medical and surgical care and research laboratories diminished opportunities for the informal interactions that are part of the new product development process. The pandemic and how it was managed prolonged the length of time for creation, adoption, and diffusion of new products and services into the market. Furthermore, the loss of hospital revenues from canceled elective care translates into a much smaller market for new technologies. Looking forward, critical success factors for innovation include federal policy that supports science and offers access and insurance coverage for health care, including addressing social determinants of health. Any further shutdowns of research and clinical care will hinder necessary collaborations between scientists, clinicians, and patients. Economic recovery is required to ensure federal and corporate funding for research and development. Trust in science must be restored to ensure support of necessary regulatory review processes and sufficient participation in clinical trials. Surgical discoveries have brought about lifesaving and life-extending cures, and the pipeline of these discoveries must continue without interruption.

2021 ◽  
pp. bmjsrh-2020-200966
Author(s):  
Heidi Moseson ◽  
Laura Fix ◽  
Caitlin Gerdts ◽  
Sachiko Ragosta ◽  
Jen Hastings ◽  
...  

BackgroundTransgender, nonbinary and gender-expansive (TGE) people face barriers to abortion care and may consider abortion without clinical supervision.MethodsIn 2019, we recruited participants for an online survey about sexual and reproductive health. Eligible participants were TGE people assigned female or intersex at birth, 18 years and older, from across the United States, and recruited through The PRIDE Study or via online and in-person postings.ResultsOf 1694 TGE participants, 76 people (36% of those ever pregnant) reported considering trying to end a pregnancy on their own without clinical supervision, and a subset of these (n=40; 19% of those ever pregnant) reported attempting to do so. Methods fell into four broad categories: herbs (n=15, 38%), physical trauma (n=10, 25%), vitamin C (n=8, 20%) and substance use (n=7, 18%). Reasons given for abortion without clinical supervision ranged from perceived efficiency and desire for privacy, to structural issues including a lack of health insurance coverage, legal restrictions, denials of or mistreatment within clinical care, and cost.ConclusionsThese data highlight a high proportion of sampled TGE people who have attempted abortion without clinical supervision. This could reflect formidable barriers to facility-based abortion care as well as a strong desire for privacy and autonomy in the abortion process. Efforts are needed to connect TGE people with information on safe and effective methods of self-managed abortion and to dismantle barriers to clinical abortion care so that TGE people may freely choose a safe, effective abortion in either setting.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Géza Kogler ◽  
Christopher Hovorka

This position paper outlines the important role of academia in shaping the orthotics and prosthetics (O&P) profession and preparing for its future. In the United States, most healthcare professions including O&P are under intense pressure to provide cost effective treatments and quantifiable health outcomes. Pivotal changes are needed in the way O&P services are provided to remain competitive. This will require the integration of new technologies and data driven processes that have the potential to streamline workflows, reduce errors and inform new methods of clinical care and device manufacturing. Academia can lead this change, starting with a restructuring in academic program curricula that will enable the next generation of professionals to cope with multiple demands such as the provision of services for an increasing number of patients by a relatively small workforce of certified practitioners delivering these services at a reduced cost, with the expectation of significant, meaningful, and measurable value. Key curricular changes will require replacing traditional labor-intensive and inefficient fabrication methods with the integration of newer technologies (i.e., digital shape capture, digital modeling/rectification and additive manufacturing). Improving manufacturing efficiencies will allow greater curricular emphasis on clinical training and education – an area that has traditionally been underemphasized. Providing more curricular emphasis on holistic patient care approaches that utilize systematic and evidence-based methods in patient assessment, treatment planning, dosage of O&P technology use, and measurement of patient outcomes is imminent. Strengthening O&P professionals’ clinical decision-making skills and decreasing labor-intensive technical fabrication aspects of the curriculum will be critical in moving toward a digital and technology-centric practice model that will enable future practitioners to adapt and survive. Article PDF Link: https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/cpoj/article/view/36673/28349 How To Cite: Kogler GF, Hovorka CF. Academia’s role to drive change in the orthotics and prosthetics profession. Canadian Prosthetics & Orthotics Journal. 2021; Volume 4, Issue 2, No.21. https://doi.org/10.33137/cpoj.v4i2.36673 Corresponding Author: Géza F. KoglerOrthotics and Prosthetics Unit, Kennesaw State University.E-Mail: [email protected] ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0212-5520


ISRN Oncology ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natasha D. Buchanan ◽  
Jessica B. King ◽  
Juan L. Rodriguez ◽  
Arica White ◽  
Katrina F. Trivers ◽  
...  

Background. Differences in healthcare and cancer treatment for cancer survivors in the United States (US) have not been routinely examined in nationally representative samples or studied before and after important Institute of Medicine (IOM) recommendations calling for higher quality care provision and attention to comprehensive cancer care for cancer survivors. Methods. To assess differences between survivor characteristics in 1992 and 2010, we conducted descriptive analyses of 1992 and 2010 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) data. Our study sample consisted of 1018 self-reported cancer survivors from the 1992 NHIS and 1718 self-reported cancer survivors from the 2010 NHIS who completed the Cancer Control (CCS) and Cancer Epidemiology (CES) Supplements. Results. The prevalence of reported survivors increased from 1992 to 2010 (4.2% versus 6.3%). From 1992 to 2010, there was an increase in long-term cancer survivors and a drop in multiple malignancies, and surgery remained the most widely used treatment. Significantly fewer survivors (<10 years after diagnosis) were denied insurance coverage. Survivors continue to report low participation in counseling or support groups. Conclusions. As the prevalence of cancer survivors continues to grow, monitoring differences in survivor characteristics can be useful in evaluating the effects of policy recommendations and the quality of clinical care.


2016 ◽  
pp. 444-460
Author(s):  
Marcin Relich ◽  
Jana Šujanová

This chapter is concerned with the study of success factors identification in product innovation. The critical success factors are identified on the basis of project management software database and questionnaires concerning communication and quality management in new product development. The model of measuring innovation includes the indicators connected with the fields such as research and development, purchasing and materials management, manufacturing, sales and marketing, and communication. The proposed methodology enables merger of objective indices and subjective judgments with the use of fuzzy logic. In order to identify the relationships between product success and project environment parameters, the artificial neural networks are used.


Author(s):  
Sudeshna Roy ◽  
Pranab K. Dan ◽  
Nipu Modak

The necessity of new product development (NPD) in the global competition is a well-established fact. Imperativeness of research and development (R&D) practices and product development process (PDP) in NPD are inevitable. In case of R&D practices, fuzzy-front-end (FFE) activities and improvisation are the two sub-factors which are not directly related to R&D but motivate it indirectly with their actions. For PDP, modular product development (MPD) and market analysis are recognized as the factors directly influencing the PDP of the firm for NPD success. This chapter considers product quality and technological developments as performance attributes for development of comprehensive framework by structural equation modeling (SEM) approach. Primary data from 263 experts of Indian manufacturing industries has been collected for analysis purpose. This empirical research portrays the role of R&D practices along with its indirectly related success factors for effectively controlling PDP along with its sub-factors for developing high quality products with technological developments.


2019 ◽  
pp. 3-21
Author(s):  
Robert L. Klitzman

This introductory chapter provides an outline of the structure and themes of the book, and describes how I became interested in this topic—through both personal and professional experiences. The chapter presents a brief overview of infertility and several assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs), including new technologies (e.g., gene editing and CRISPR) and their history; recent statistics on use of these interventions in the United States and elsewhere; several relevant current policies, guidelines, and recent legal cases in the United States, Europe, and elsewhere (e.g., from the FDA, CDC, and the American Society for Reproductive Medicine [ASRM]) pertaining to sale and purchase of so-called third-party gametes (i.e., human eggs and sperm); costs and insurance coverage; ethical issues posed by ARTs (e.g., regarding eugenics); and other aspects of these treatments. The chapter also provides an overview of the qualitative methods used in the research that forms a basis of the book.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Kunkle ◽  
John A Naslund ◽  
Justin Hunt ◽  
Dana Udall ◽  
Erica Hayes ◽  
...  

UNSTRUCTURED Mental health is a growing public health priority in the United States and globally. Measurement-based care (MBC) has been shown to improve outcomes in clinical care, yet there are significant challenges to implementation. New technologies offer opportunities to address these obstacles and to measure new and existing constructs at a scale that was previously not possible. This paper aims to summarize existing literature on MBC, focusing on mental health and digital health. Specifically, we describe a case example called Ginger, a novel on-demand virtual system for delivering mental health services, and demonstrate how this platform aligns with core principles of MBC in mental health based on existing frameworks and findings from the literature. Additionally, we integrate feedback from multidisciplinary stakeholders (clinical practitioners, data science, product development and management, and research) to develop a perspective on key tenets of measurement in this system. To navigate the challenges of translating traditional measurement tools into new technologies in addition to developing new measurements, this multidisciplinary perspective is required. Ultimately, this will enhance our understanding of mental health and ability to develop interventions to improve outcomes.


2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (04) ◽  
pp. 2050035
Author(s):  
SAJNA IBRAHIM ◽  
MICHAEL OBAL

Product developers are increasingly often faced with the decision of whether or not to adopt new technologies into their own new product development (NPD) processes. Adopting a resource-based perspective, we posit that the adoption of radical technologies into the NPD process, such as remote collaborative design, virtual reality, and simulation systems, can help improve NPD performance. At the same time, these adoptions are likely to slow down product launch. Just as consumers struggle to integrate radical technologies during the short-term, we propose that new product developers will face a similar learning curve. Therefore, we investigate potential moderators that could help product developers quickly integrate radical technologies and lessen their negative influence on product launch timeliness. A wide-ranging survey of 249 product managers sponsored by an international product development organisation is used in this study. The results reveal that while the adoption of radical technologies benefits NPD performance, the adoption tends to slow down the product launch process. However, cross-functional leadership within the organisation helps to lessen this negative influence on launch timeliness. The results from this study offer product managers practical guidelines for successfully adopting radical technologies into the NPD process and mitigating risks.


Author(s):  
Marcin Relich ◽  
Jana Šujanová

This chapter is concerned with the study of success factors identification in product innovation. The critical success factors are identified on the basis of project management software database and questionnaires concerning communication and quality management in new product development. The model of measuring innovation includes the indicators connected with the fields such as research and development, purchasing and materials management, manufacturing, sales and marketing, and communication. The proposed methodology enables merger of objective indices and subjective judgments with the use of fuzzy logic. In order to identify the relationships between product success and project environment parameters, the artificial neural networks are used.


2019 ◽  
pp. 252-271
Author(s):  
Robert L. Klitzman

The United States regulates assisted reproductive technologies far less than do other Western countries, most of which have more nationalized health insurance. US states vary widely in whether they have any laws and, if so, what. Governmental agencies (e.g., Food and Drug Administration, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and professional organizations (e.g., American Medical Association, American Society of Reproductive Medicine) have begun addressing several areas but could potentially do more. Improved national and professional policies are needed regarding several areas, including egg and sperm donation, egg donor agencies, numbers of embryos transferred into wombs, gestational surrogacy, oversight of providers, insurance coverage, and data collection. Doctors generally perceive problems in the field but argue that industry self-regulation, rather than government policy, is adequate. Yet many providers fail to follow current guidelines and regulations. Moreover, new technologies continue to develop, including gene editing of embryos through CRISPR and mitochondrial replacement therapy (so-called three-parent babies). More data and research are crucial on current use of procedures and long-term medical and psychological follow-up of patients, egg donors, gestational surrogates, and offspring, to evaluate, for instance, the effectiveness of egg freezing and longitudinal follow-up of children born through these procedures.


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