Tapping Community Physicians for Innovation Ideas

Community physicians who work outside major medical centers represent a wealth of expertise that could guide innovation efforts, if mobilized, according to Adam O. Kadlec, MD, a board-certified urologist at Western Michigan Urological Associates. Kadlec provided tips to help inspire community physicians to get more involved in a recent blog for NEJM Catalyst.

Learn the process. ?Many physicians are simply unaware that innovation is a process and that entrepreneurship is a discipline … Teaching community clinicians that there is a process?and that they can play a part?is the first step toward engagement,? wrote Kadlec.

Look for meaningful partnerships. Many major healthcare and academic medical centers have launched innovation hubs in recent years. Community clinicians should be intentional about finding opportunities for innovation, and that may mean creating partnerships where innovation is already underway.

Network with like-minded physicians. Physicians who don?t have access to major medical innovation hubs can check out virtual opportunities, like online matching programs, and conferences, such as Medicine X and TEDMED, to network with other passionate clinicians.

?Adapted from ?Engaging Community Physicians in Innovation,? by Adam O. Kadlec, MD, NEJM Catalyst, April 26, 2017.