TECHNOLOGY
of innovation disclosures made to HEE have been COVID-19 related, ranging from mobile applications to help disseminate information, modifications to existing products such as ventilators, to entirely new devices to address the new clinical needs posed by COVID-19. What has been made evident is that there is a clear drive to get new innovations to those who need them on the frontline, which requires specific funding for COVID-19 innovations and an accelerated development pathway. Sometimes taking up to a year from initial application submission before funding is awarded, funding schemes with lengthy and robust application procedures simply do not work for COVID-19 innovations. In response, Innovate UK launched a business- led ‘innovation in response to global disruption’ competition in April. This one-off competition to help UK
businesses focus on emerging or increasing needs of society and industries, during and following the COVID-19 pandemic, led to fast-tracked decisions. Through fast-tracking the innovation process like this, it is hoped that the UK will be better placed to maintain employment levels, a competitive position in global markets and make the country more resilient to similar future disruption. In addition to this Government support, new initiatives are being set up to help clinicians and innovators develop new medtech products, which will help them deliver care in the ‘new normal’. A new fundraising initiative, Innovate Now, has just been launched by HEE, which aims to help pave the way for a safe and swift return to routine services as the acute phase of the COVID-19 crisis subsides. NHS partners have already highlighted
the need for urgent support in areas such as managing outpatients remotely, reducing risk of contamination during surgery, patient self-monitoring and mental health support for those with long-term symptoms. This needs-based approach means that solutions can be delivered with relatively modest funds and in incredibly short timeframes.
Value of innovation: NeutroCheck The latest award from the Medtech Accelerator of £125,000 was made to Cambridge- based company, NeutroCheck, to progress development of an at-home safety monitoring test for chemotherapy patients. Neutropenic sepsis (NS) is a life-threatening medical emergency that occurs in patients having chemotherapy whose immune system has been suppressed by their treatment. The key blood cell that is suppressed in NS is
Training healthcare professionals during a pandemic
Raimundo Sierra, Co-CEO and founder at VirtaMed, discusses the contribution of simulation technologies during the COVID crisis. Training healthcare professionals is clearly important in any scenario. Medical education provides us with the nurses, doctors and surgeons of the future. The coronavirus pandemic has meant that the global healthcare community has shifted its focus on emergency care rather than education – for painfully obvious reasons. Due to Coronavirus, many elective procedures have been cancelled and the contact between healthcare professionals and patients has been restricted. As medical procedures are taught in an apprenticeship model, many trainees are now left without the ability to train. Moreover, once the COVID restrictions are relaxed, there will be a backlog of exams and elective procedures to be done, which will reduce available training opportunities. There has been an additional strain placed on the provision of medical professionals due to the shortage of PPE. Many hospitals have cancelled clinical rotations for medical residents to preserve PPE for caregivers and safeguard students and patients. Students have expressed concerns that they will not complete their required clinical hours required to graduate, and the pipeline of new medical professionals could be reduced when they are most needed. So how can MedTech rise to the challenge?
High fidelity simulators provide an environment to gain medical skills and practice procedures, enhanced by automated real-time validated performance feedback. Even under COVID restrictions,
NOVEMBER 2020
reduces costs within 2-3 years of adopting simulation.
physicians can safely practice surgical procedures in a simulated environment and ensure that they continue improving their core skills. Simulators reduce costs for disposable material during physician training; also, equipment breakage costs can be reduced significantly. Aside from the obvious social distancing advantages that working with simulators provides, where else are we seeing benefits under COVID conditions?
Cost savings
While healthcare systems, in general, are under huge financial pressures, any way to save money is a boon. By pre-training a certain set of skills up to a defined level on simulators, residents can operate with more precision and greater speed, improving the efficiency of the clinical schedule. Pre-training also means that professors can dedicate their time to sharing their advanced knowledge, reducing the time spent on the basics.
These efficiencies, combined with a reduction in cadaveric courses and the corresponding reduction in the use of disposables and instrument breakages, mean that a typical teaching institution improves their standard of training and
A fast track to the medical future? Will the pandemic provide a fundamental shift in training (using simulators) in the same way that, for example, grounded pilots are currently spending a lot of time in simulators in order to keep their logged hours up and maintain their qualifications? Is this the opportunity to fast-track some of that MedTech in our healthcare systems? Again, yes. Many medical societies have already made public statements about the need for simulation in lieu of elective procedures.
Many university hospitals have teaching facilities (simulation centres) outside of their surgical building, which can be visited by surgeons in training. The longer-term outlook is how medical device companies can best connect with surgeons for training if they minimise in-person visits; shipping a simulator and delivering virtual training is a great alternative.
Post COVID backlog
The huge backlog of patients that has accumulated through the cancellation of elective procedures will keep operating rooms at capacity for at least the rest of 2020. Therefore, the emphasis must be for trainees to have independent learning tools available so that they can learn on-demand while still benefiting from performance feedback. High fidelity simulation is key to this. These simulators have codified a huge amount of medical expertise and can be relied upon to deliver the same standard of training over and over. Furrthermore, it is much safer to practice on a simulator.
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