Patientinnovations in Swedish healt care

Purpose and goal

The purpose of the project is to research patient innovations in Sweden. How do they appear and is it feasible for the health care sector to systematically search for patient innovation. Initially there were issues weather how to set up processes and what to look for, but then after half a year more and more ideas and solutions started to grow. So it is obvious that there are patient innovations in Sweden and we need more research in this area. Not the least in relation to Swedish regulations that hinder some of the patient ideas to become reality.

Expected results and effects

The so called ”Patientinnovationsslussarna” all together collected 142 ideas from patients and 31 solutions. There are also 3 patents in process. The VINNOVA-program has led to a lot of insights regarding innovations from patients. Much of this new knowledge has also been transferred to others within the health care organizations. In the beginning there were some doubts of patient innovations but the program clearly show the benefits and all Patientinnovationsslussar will continue their work.

Planned approach and implementation

During the VINNOVA-program the project has assisted the Patientinnovationsslussarna with knowledge on user innovation and especially how to identify and work with the patient group. It would have been favorable to access and describe the ideas and solutions in more detail. On the other hand it was only a one year program and that is a rather short period to discover ideas and push them into innovations. The project has worked a lot to transfer experiences from one Patientinnovationssluss to another. For the future we need a more interactive platform for this purpose.