For years now, innovation efforts in spine surgery have been devoted to developing new treatments or finding new materials for implants. Little has been done to unleash the full potential of some of the most commonly used medical devices.
Simple tools such as handle torques or surgical trays could however provide a wealth of information on what happened during the procedure, how often the instrument has been used, has the instrument been properly sterilized.
In short, contributing to improve treatments, patient safety and OEMs’ decision making process. Let’s discuss how innovation in med devices can transform the medtech industry.
Tiny tech big data
The idea developed by some companies such as SMADE is to turn those simple tools into smart medical devices…by embedding smart technology in medical devices and connecting them to an IoT platform, so as to make the invisible…visible.
Thanks to trackers with specific features such as activity tracking and real-time geolocation tracking, it is now possible to know precisely how assets are moved and used over time, hence improving visibility of what’s happening on the field.
More importantly, with completely autonomous trackers, data is automatically sent to the cloud, without any human intervention…to the better. No need to scan, no need to press a button and no more risk of human error.
Big data big benefit
Why so much interest in big data? Leveraging the power of field data collected by each and every instrument and tray resolve the challenge of large-scale healthcare organizations and OEMs that have to provide the best quality of care, comply with the most stringent regulations while identifying cost-cutting opportunities.
By identifying and addressing the real life pain points of each team and department, data powered solutions contribute to improve the overall system.
Greater on-field visibility helps the Regulatory and Quality teams who need to ensure regulatory compliance and traceability of all assets at all times. It provides a powerful tool to the finance teams that have to guarantee effective inventory control and costs optimization. And it improves the operations and logistics teams’ capacity to deliver surgical kits and trays on time, properly sterilized and ready for surgery.
In the new era of big data, instruments become instrumental to the whole healthcare industry. From the manufacturer to the surgeon, enhancing field-visibility highly contributes to a safer and more responsible healthcare industry.
Accuracy is key
One condition for adopting such attractive solutions is accuracy.
Only those providers who can collect, analyze and turn data into actionable insights will take the lion’s share of the market. It means that embedded technology should be resistant to extreme environments such as high temperature, multiple autoclave and sterilization cycles, shocks and drops. It also means that the IoT platform should be user-centric and responsive in order to address most of the teams’ needs, from anywhere, at any time.
SMADE solutions smartly provide all these above mentioned features. Now it’s time for OEMs to adopt them in order to leverage the full potential of their medical devices… For the sake of healthcare quality and efficacy.