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Telemedicine as social innovation
Improving access to prosthetics with social innovation
The future of social innovation in healthcare delivery
References
References
Social innovation is the development and application of new methods, tools, and solutions to bring about change. This is usually achieved through organizational or conceptual improvements. Specifically, these methods aim to make a positive difference in terms of well-being at both community and individual levels.
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Social challenges drive the foundation of social innovation. These challenges include access needs, poverty, discrimination and inequality. Social innovation is therefore specifically targeted at meeting these needs. From a health care delivery perspective, this may look like improved access to services and medicines.
Changes made through social innovation consider unmet needs at both systemic and structural levels. This means that social innovations can impact people at both micro and macro levels. At the micro level, social innovation has the potential to provide specialized support tailored to individual needs. In contrast, the macro level considers the needs and systemic issues of the community as a whole.
Social innovation has a variety of uses and uses, including applications in medical settings. In many cases, it is fundamental to develop disability aids and assistive devices, especially in areas where such intake may be impeded. It was also key to creating some aspects of healthcare that are now relatively common, such as telemedicine.
Telemedicine as social innovation
Telemedicine is the remote delivery of promotive, preventive, and curative health care. Telemedicine, on the other hand, is a clinical service that provides remote monitoring and diagnosis. When telemedicine first began, it was primarily in the form of telephone calls, but it now also includes VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) and virtual wards.
Telemedicine is an example of an ongoing social innovation because it can bring health care to communities that may be exposed to access barriers. For example, telehealth strategies can be used to reach more people in rural areas. It also increases access to medicines that can significantly contribute to public health problems.
Rural Georgia has been using a sustainable telehealth model since the late 1980s. The size of the local public health district may make it difficult for patients to access clinics, meaning that remote access to clinics is preferable.
Access to pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is increasing using a variety of technology-based telehealth initiatives. PrEP is a type of drug that can be given as a pill or subcutaneous injection to prevent human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. These remote programs aim to improve medication uptake, availability, and compliance.
Remote PrEP programs are sometimes called Tele-PrEP. As a form of social innovation, Tele-PrEP aims to minimize gaps in the reach of medicines and the associated quality of care provided. California and Iowa both offer state-run Tele-PrEP programs, along with numerous smaller communities across the country.
What is telemedicine? How does telemedicine work? – Calcaine Media
Improving access to prosthetics with social innovation
Social innovation has improved healthcare delivery through the development of new prosthetic solutions. This is particularly important for countries where fiscal issues are impacting the health system or where access to the materials needed to create prostheses is reduced.
Many prosthetics, both typical and experimental, can require significant lead time to create. This is both because of the financial requirements to create them and the high level of expertise required to create them. Therefore, it is important to innovate them to improve delivery.
A myoelectric prosthesis created using open-source resources is proposed as an innovative approach to providing healthcare in Colombia. Researchers compared different open-source hardware systems to assess which could best address relevant societal challenges. On this basis, five sustainable prostheses were developed for a group of upper limb amputees.
Other socially innovative prosthetics have been created using 3D printing technology. These prostheses take less time to develop and are cheaper than most alternatives. This means 3D printing could help harness social innovation to break down barriers to healthcare delivery.
In 2020, a paper was published outlining the development of affordable 3D printed hand prosthetics. Developed to function ergonomically like a lightweight glove. The patient for whom this product was developed had a transmetacarpal amputation, which means part of the palm and numerous fingers are missing.
The manufacturing cost of a 3D printed prosthesis for transmetacarpal amputations is approximately US$20. This meant that countries with lower levels of financial capital were more accessible and thus addressed social challenges through innovation.
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The future of social innovation in healthcare delivery
Social innovation has contributed significantly to the development of improved healthcare delivery. Conceptually, social innovation appears to have the potential to spark major change, but researchers suggest that social innovation has yet to reach its full potential when it comes to health care.
Key to supporting a socially innovative future in healthcare is for gatekeepers, leaders and health professionals to support the innovation process with input from service users. Specifically, the researchers suggested that it is important for gatekeepers to connect with people with disabilities and their caregivers as collaborators rather than viewing them as “passive end users” during the innovation process. are doing.
Researchers and public health experts have emphasized the importance of leveraging social innovation in inclusive ways to achieve justice and equity, especially for people with disabilities. Based on this, the term “inclusive innovation” was created and proposed as the goal that social innovation should aim for.
References
- Niekerk, L., Manderson, L., and Balabanova, D. (2021). Application of social innovation in healthcare: A scoping review. Infectious diseases caused by poverty10(1), pp. 1-25.
- Gyllinsky, J. V. et al. (2019). Patient self-assessment of 3D printed upper limb prosthesis. 2019 IEEE International Conference on Smart Computing (SMARTCOMP), pages 205–207.
- Toger, R., Wood, B. R. (2019). A review of telehealth innovations for HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). Latest HIV/AIDS Report16, pp. 113-119.
- Noel, K., Ellison, B. (2020). Comprehensive innovation in telemedicine. NPJ Digital Medicine3(1), p.89.
- Singh, R., Mathiassen, L., Stachura, M., & Astapova, E. V. (2010). Sustainable rural telehealth innovation: A public health case study. medical service research45(4), pp. 985-1004.
- Dawson, L., Frederiksen, B., and Gomez I. (2022). PrEP access in the United States: The role of telemedicine. KFF, HIV/AID.
- Alturkistani, R., Devasahayam, S., Thomas, R., Colombini, EL, Cifuentes, CA, Homer-Vanniasinkam, S., … & Moazen, M. (2020).Affordable passive 3D printed prosthesis for people with partial hand amputations.Prosthetics International44(2), pp. 92-98.
- Noel, K., Ellison, B. (2020). Comprehensive innovation in telemedicine. NPJ Digital Medicine3(1), p.89.