Online archive for the INFRATECH Health Technology Management and Clinical Engineering discussion group

what about ‘Medical Devices support life’

Jennifer Jackson

Hi All

How about "The Brain is the best Medical Device - but it often
requires help from others". 

This is non-cliched (agreeing with Ismael), is somewhat ambiguous
and will make people think
(and therefore more likely that people will retain/remember).
A luta continua!

Best

Mladen Poluta

RIcardo,

 Very good point indeed, and I fully agree!   

However...  the WHO unit that asked us for our feedback on their brochure is called the
"Medical Devices Unit" and not the "healthcare technology management unit" or
"clinical engineering unit"

So perhaps some clarification may be needed from WHO about whether the brochure
is for the WHO Medical Devices Unit or for HTM in general, or if they are synonymous,
then perhaps it doesn't matter... 

Best, 

Ismael Cordero

Dear all:

I have been following the discussion and I think that we are out of the
target.  Both healthcare practitioners and administrators are fully
aware of the importance of medical equipment.  The practitioners are
dependant on these devices for their performance and ardministrators
spend a big chunk of money in devices.  What they are not fully aware of
is that "without engineers there is no modern healthcare" and/or the
fact that "engineers save lives".  I think this is the real purpose of a
catch phrase for medical device unit.

Best,

Ricardo Silva

Jennifer:

One quick idea for a short headline message:

Without Medical Devices there is no Healthcare

As obvious as this statement is to many of us, its simplicity is not very well understood by many
policy makers.

And I agree with you that the value of HTM can be explained later in the brochure and
does not have to be in the statement.

The suggested "saves lives" phrase, although seemingly strong,
has been used already for the themes of washing hands, safe surgery, newborn screening,
mammography,  clean air, etc., etc., so the impact of the phrase may have been
diluted by too much use elsewhere.

Ismael Cordero

Dear Colleagues,

If you are not already aware of this initiative to try and close the
“pulse oximetry gap” in connection with the WHO Safe Surgery Saves
Lives Checklist I thought you might like see it at
http://www.lifebox.org/

There is quite a lot of information on the website.

It has also just received significant support from the BMJ who have
chosen it for their Christmas Charity Appeal in 2011, see Atul Gawande
podcast -

http://www.bmj.com/multimedia/video/2011/12/02/lifebox-appeal-atul-gawande

Yours sincerely

David Whitaker
Consultant Anaesthetist
Manchester Royal Infirmary
United Kingdom

Thank you Binseng for this particularly appropriate example. I have been
reading all the comments and feedback and agree with all of you. But I
want to point out that in order to attract attention to those outside
our immediate group (people who already find this work exciting,
interesting, and important), we need a catch phrase. Something that will
attract attention and make outside people realize that it is an
important issue that needs to be addressed as Shauna said. Many people
understand, as common sense would dictate, that medical devices save
lives but it may not be something they think about until it is pointed
out to them. (At MEDICA, yes of course they are more than aware but they
were only one audience and we had to consider the broader context.) 

That was our idea behind our message: Medical Devices Save Lives. Once
we have them engaged and intrigued then we can go into the details, the
things that may not be so "sexy". It is very difficult to have a catchy
phrase and this is what we came up with. I am open to other short,
catchy phrases if you have any but I feel that "Medical Devices Save and
Improve Lives" makes it less impactful, however true. Perhaps it is just
my perception. Binseng, you make a very valid point but it is hard to
say all that, be succinct, and not lose the audience. I do think that
for the next revision we could put inside the brochure "Medical devices
save lives but only if they are A, B, C, etc..."

HIV got on the international agenda due to the graphic pictures coming
out of Africa. People were moved to action. People saw suffering and
wanted to ameliorate it. Health systems strengthening, and medical
devices as an offset of that, is not as easy to tug on the heartstrings
but images of broken equipment, stories of people unable to get
treatment due to a missing part may be able to.

That leads me to Ron's comment about the photos. I completely agree and
unfortunately, we had to work with the photos we had given the short
timeframe to produce the brochure. We hope we can get a nice library of
"impactful" images (or "spectacular" as Claudio puts it) but we need to
look into professional photographers who understand lighting, the use of
people, etc. And then these images can be used on our website, on
promotional material, etc.  It would be ideal to hire a marketing
consultant but as budgets are limited, for now we have to make do.

Thanks again for all your feedback and looking forward to getting our
message out to a wider audience!! Keep the feedback coming!

Best,
Jennifer Barragan

Dear All:

Sorry for jumping into this discussion very late.  The initial message was
posted on Thanksgiving day here in the US and I was trying to take
advantage of the long weekend to do a deck renovation project, so I was not
able to respond promptly.  On the other hand, this project taught me some
lessons that I would like to share some thoughts with you.  So please bear
with me a little bit.

For those who are not familiar with decks, it is something made typically
with wood outside of but connected to the house.  So it is exposed to sun,
rain and snow, etc. and, thus, need periodic maintenance.  My project
included removing and replacing some rotten wood planks, washing and
sanding everything, so the deck can be stained (painted).  This obviously
required some tools and lots of work.  In the middle of the project, I
realized that I needed a tool that I did not have, so had to go out and buy
one (a reciprocating saw).  It was disruptive but made the job faster and
easier.

Just like the saw in my deck project, medical devices are nothing but tools.
By themselves, they cannot save or improve lives.  They must be in the
right place, at the right time, and used by the right people (healthcare
professionals) in order to save or improve lives.  My deck project showed
that not only I did not have the right tool but, more importantly, did not
plan and manage properly the project.  I should have surveyed the deck
first, planned and acquired all the necessary tools and supplies, and then
start the project with the proper safeguards and assistance (if needed).

So I think we should not be arguing whether medical devices save or improve
lives, because this is already well known (especially in a tradeshow like
MEDICA).  Numerous studies (including some conducted by WHO) have shown
that it is not the lack of technology that causes poor care in less
developed countries.  Donations are a good example of misguided efforts to
provide tools without the right infrastructure and trained users (akin to
having many hammers but no nails or people who know how to use them).  We
should advocate for better management of technology, not just more
technology.

OK, off the soapbox now and back to licking my wounds and massaging my sore
muscles from the deck project.  I hope you are much better in carrying out
home improvement projects than me.

To ensure there is no misunderstanding, I would like to make it clear that
I fully support WHO’s efforts in calling attention of all stakeholders
about the need to include technology into discussions of healthcare
improvement everywhere.  Although tools are not unique to human beings,
they are one of the main reasons we have been able to evolve more rapidly
than any other species on this planet.  Like any other industry, better
healthcare can only be achieved with safe and working tools at the right
place, at the right time, and in the hands of the right people--in other
words, better technology management.

Happy holidays to all,

Binseng Wang

Dear all,

Thanks for your feedback and comments; they are very useful. As Adriana mentioned, this brochure is a ‘first edition’ that we put together to try to convey quickly and accessibly what the medical devices team at the WHO does, and why it matters! This discussion thread speaks to a larger issue that we have been discussing a lot recently at the WHO, which is:

How do we convey the importance of improving HTM in low-income countries quickly and accessibly to a wide audience?

It’s difficult to convey our message in a quick sound byte to an audience unfamiliar with our field. I believe it’s difficult for many reasons, including the fact that our area is somewhat technical, but more so because it deals with a systemic problem, as a opposed to a discrete disease- or health facility- specific one that is immediately accessible and that the audience can relate to.

But it’s vital that we improve our ability to advocate for HTM in low-income countries and to communicate its importance effectively, in order to influence policy and secure funding to scale up our work. Because the fact is that I’ve never had anyone from a more mainstream global health profession respond that HTM doesn’t seem like an important challenge to address when I explain what HTM is and why it matters. Instead I’ve mainly had the response ” I hadn’t thought about it that way”. So what’s needed is a paradigm shift in how HTM can be thought about and presented in a more mainstream global health arena. In other words, how do we take INFRATECH’s message beyond INFRATECH? Perhaps this can be the beginning of a discussion here on how best to do this… I welcome your thoughts. All the best,

Shauna Mullally