Patient-Centered Innovation: Involving Patients in Open Social Innovation.

BACKGROUND: Involving patients in the health-care delivery innovation has many benefits. Open social innovation (OSI) presents a fitting lens to examine and advance patient engagement in innovation. OSI offers a participatory approach to innovation, in which diverse groups of participants collaboratively generate ideas and scale solutions on complex social challenges. PURPOSE: This study: (1) describes a pilot application of OSI, in which individuals serving on a hospital's patients and family advisory councils (PFACs) were invited to participate in an innovation contest; and (2) explores the extent to which patients' beliefs about their role in innovation relate to their participation in the contest. METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: We conducted an innovation contest that invited PFAC members to share ideas that would improve patient experiences and then vote on and select the ideas that they wanted to see move forward. We measured patients' beliefs about their role in innovation in a survey before the contest. RESULTS: Twenty individuals submitted 27 ideas. Patients who expressed preference for more involvement in innovation were more likely to participate. CONCLUSIONS: Using OSI may help expand patient engagement in innovation, particularly among those who want to be more involved but do not feel authorized to voice ideas in traditional advisory committees. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: OSI spurred collaboration among patients, clinicians, quality improvement staff, hospital administrators, and other stakeholders in idea generation, elaboration, and implementation. More experimentation and research are needed to understand how OSI can be leveraged to capture patients' voice and incorporate them in care delivery innovation.

Mission possible: open innovation in nursing and patient care services at Massachusetts General Hospital.

OBJECTIVES: Although front-line nurses and staff are uniquely positioned to identify the inefficiencies and gaps in care delivery, formal processes are not always in place to hear from those very employees. DESIGN: We established a scalable process that embodies open innovation principles, to broaden and distribute the innovation locus. SETTING: Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA. PARTICPITANTS: We invited 8800+ nurses and other direct caregivers to participate in organisational problem solving. INTERVENTIONS: We solicited employees to (1) identify pain points and develop solutions and (2) crowd vote to indicate which ideas they want to see implemented. RESULTS: 177 employees submitted 225 ideas, and 928 cast a vote. The 40 participants who submitted top-voted ideas were invited to develop a detailed implementation plan; of those, 27 submitted one. Four ideas emerged as winners. CONCLUSIONS: Formulating a clear call for ideas, securing leadership buy-in and generating excitement about the process were essential to our efforts. Challenges associated with opening the innovation process involved managing a large volume of participants and submissions, and providing on-the-go training to nurses and staff who were not used to being asked to participate in organisational problem solving.

Voices of Fathers During Pregnancy: The MGH Prenatal Care Obstetrics Fatherhood Study Methods and Results.

INTRODUCTION: Despite the growing recognition of father's importance for early family health and well-being, there has been very limited attention to men's own experiences and developmental needs antenatally, and specifically during their partner's prenatal care (PNC) visits. This study explores the feasibility of capturing men's own voices; documents their antenatal experiences and needs; assesses their treatment by Obstetric staff; and enquires about additional paternal information and skills desired and how best to provide them. METHODS: All fathers accompanying their partners to PNC services during two weeks at Massachusetts General Hospital were invited to fill out an anonymous, 15-min, two-part, iPad survey. RESULTS: 430 fathers participated (85% of men approached). Fathers expressed high levels of joy and involvement with approaching fatherhood; but 55% also expressed substantial levels of stress, 26% acknowledged depressive symptoms, and 42% reported limited social support for becoming fathers. Substantial men's health needs were noted: 75% were overweight (including 24% obese); 36% lacked an annual physical; and 22% had unplanned pregnancies. Most men (85%) desired additional fathering skills. Fathers perceived being very positively treated by the Obstetric staff, though 33% were never asked any direct questions. Most fathers (68%) expressed a desire or openness for additional parenting information, across a wide range of reproductive health topics, and were very enthusiastic about antenatal fatherhood initiatives. CONCLUSION: PNC sites provide a valuable locus for ascertaining men's/fathers' voices and could be enhanced to address their extensive antenatal needs and foster earlier paternal involvement to improve infant, family, and men's own health.