The “move fast and break things” motto might work wonders with consumer products, but a new editorial in npj Digital Medicine makes a compelling case that healthcare needs to flip that paradigm on its head and co-create with clinicians to “sync fast and solve things.”
The editorial argues that healthcare practitioners (HCPs) should play an active role in driving digital health innovation, as opposed to being passively “consulted” so that developers can tout the fact that their product is backed by clinicians.
- The breakneck pace of digital innovation in the wake of the pandemic has outpaced the inclusion of HCPs in the co-creation of new solutions, leading to a fight-or-flight response where clinicians are reluctant to adopt said solutions to defend their traditional responsibilities. Separate research seems to back that up.
- If new tools lack product insight and buy-in from HCPs, they’re significantly more likely to be doomed to clinical irrelevance, as showcased by a recent analysis that found 44% of digital health companies have a clinical robustness score of 0 out of 10.
Although it isn’t an earth-shattering revelation that HCPs have a solid grasp on the exact workflows needed to inform clinically relevant solutions, the authors offer three considerations for shifting from “passive” to “active” co-creation.
- First, financial incentives alone aren’t enough to ensure busy clinicians can engage in meaningful co-creation. The most important incentive that companies can offer clinicians is time, particularly by delivering a product that can optimize workflow efficiency or help deliver quicker treatments.
- Second, the article stresses a need to embed digital health technologies in clinical curricula so that HCPs can learn about not just using these new tools, but also translating their experience into better-informed products.
- Lastly, the authors lay out why there’s a role for regulators to mandate that HCPs participate in digital health innovation, and suggest that payors and legislators consider augmenting their approval processes by requiring HCPs be involved in the development of new solutions to serve as a proxy for their clinical safety and efficacy.
The Takeaway
Healthcare clearly isn’t the best sandbox to “move fast and break things,” but this article is an important reminder that “sync fast and solve things” shouldn’t mean trading clinician input for speed. While passive co-creation might help with the marketing materials, giving clinicians an active role in product development is the only way to ensure their experience is reflected in digital innovation.
