Transforming ideas into creative solutions — that’s what we do!

Founded in 2019 with the kickoff of the WakeMed drone program, our WakeMed Innovations department is a place where employees are welcome to dabble in ideas that address the unmet needs of our patients and their families.

Diana Rhyne, executive director of Research & Innovation, says, “We scout for ideas by bringing awareness to what we’re working on and why we exist, so we, as a collective team, can support the entire healthcare system.”

Goal

The goal of WakeMed Innovations is to facilitate creative, groundbreaking advancements that enhance the patient and family experience.

”Innovation is one of WakeMed’s Aspirational Goals, and we support everyone in our organization — all roles and job descriptions — who seek to solve problems for our patients and staff,” says Diana Rhyne.

[Meet App Tracker Innovator, Renee Hoyle-Thacker]

Vision

As cheerleaders for our WakeMed team, the vision behind the launch of WakeMed Innovations is to highlight providers, nurses and staff at WakeMed who see problems on a day-to-day basis and have ideas to solve them but require support to come to resolution.

It’s one thing to have an idea. It’s another thing entirely to have a committed and capable team behind you, helping to bring your idea to life.

“We serve as a resource to help our employees — whether the need is small or big.”

[Meet NicView Innovator, Jared Zimmel]

Leadership Team

Our WakeMed Innovations team is led by five leaders who serve to inspire the vision and support the on-the-ground Innovations team in execution. Our leadership team also supports both large and small venture funds where we make strategic investments in external companies. Learn more about the WakeMed Innovations team.

Three Objectives

There are three main objectives for WakeMed Innovations: resource internal innovators, source innovative opportunities for investment and facilitate external innovation.

• The first objective is to resource our internal innovators to allow for our staff to present and execute forward-facing ways to generate progressive, actionable ideas to support the WakeMed system. This may include the following:

• • finding existing solutions to problems,
  • connecting employees to staff in other departments who can provide a viable solution,
  • considering the viability of employee ideas to come to resolution and
  • funding fail quick testing.

• The second objective is sourcing innovative opportunities for investment.  We work to find investment opportunities that strategically benefit WakeMed, in particular our patients and families.

• • For example, recently, we invested in Go Check Kids, which is an eye screening device for pediatric patients. The role of WakeMed Innovations is not simply to validate that the need is strategically aligned with WakeMed, when considering a company for our investment portfolio, but also to acknowledge that the need may impact WakeMed patients, family and staff.

• The third objective is to help facilitate external ideas that impact our region.

• • Beyond investing in companies, WakeMed Innovations also form partnerships with other companies, such as NC Biotech and NCSU, to help facilitate regional innovation.

[Meet eICU Cart Innovator, Emily Mengel]

Steps in the Internal Innovations Process

An idea may be resolved either internally or externally. Regardless, it all begins with an employee sharing a concern. Here are the steps:

Step 1:

The innovator submits the problem or an innovative way to solve a problem. Every idea is reviewed and comes to some kind of solution — though the solutions may look different.

On a project-by-project basis, WakeMed Innovations further investigates the problem presented by digging into the root cause. We need to drill down to the fundamental details of each identified pain-point.

Step 2:

The WakeMed Innovations team will reach out to the innovator by email within five business days of receipt of application. We will request a time to meet (preferably in person) to review a submission and any materials/prototypes developed.

There’s only so much that can be said through an online form. Meeting with innovators gives us an opportunity to gain a more personal perspective of the problem and solution.

Step 3:

After reviewing the intake submission and meeting with the innovator, the Innovations team will determine appropriate next steps, which may include the following:

• Internal feedback on the problem and/or the innovative idea: In this case, Innovations would gather feedback from internal stakeholders to gain different perspectives on the problem and/or idea and then reconnect with the innovator.
• Research and business case development: Innovations would conduct research on the innovation market and size, competitors, future trends, and potential existent patents. After completing research, Innovations will then summarize this information into a business case for Innovations leadership and the innovator to review.
• Connection to relevant internal department: For some submissions, Innovations may introduce the innovator to an internal department that is aligned with the solution generated and can help move forward with next steps.
• Determination of strategic fit to WakeMed: For all innovations submitted, Innovations will determine how the idea fits with the aspirational goals and strategic plan at WakeMed. The alignment and impact on the WakeMed community is an important consideration for Innovations support and determination of next steps.

Step 4:

Next, the Innovations team takes a look at the proposed solution to the problem to see if it is viable, feasible and desirable. Remember — no idea is a bad idea.

Casey Granack, manager of Innovations, says, “You can think of this step as a funnel. We may have hundreds of submitted ideas, but this step helps us filter and prioritize the ones that are most viable, feasible and desirable within the WakeMed community.”

That being said, not every idea will be a strategic fit with WakeMed. If that’s the case, we encourage employees to continue to think of outside-the-box ways to develop new approaches that address the unmet needs of our patients and families, our clinicians, our staff and the community.

Step 5:

If the proposed innovation is both viable and a strategic fit, WakeMed Innovations supports the progressive ideas through investing time, resources, strategic advisement, prototype development and funding. This next step would involve closely examining how the innovative idea can be further developed into a functioning solution for a problem.

For example, support from the Innovations team may be as simple as going to the engineering department and having a 3-D prototype printed. Other times, it may require going to an external company and partnering for a solution. We then move into a testing phase, so we can get rapid feedback. That is the cycle of ideation — prototype development, testing and feedback. Once we arrive at the final step (which could take months) our goal is to try to pilot the idea.

Innovations Intake Process

WakeMed Innovations will review every idea and the information employees submit to explain the idea. This initial review will help us determine if we are able to provide support.

“Every idea is carefully evaluated. We move forward with those innovations where we have the capability to move from idea to reality, and where the solution would provide real value,” says Rhyne.

Funding

You may be wondering where the money comes from to build prototypes for internal innovation. WakeMed Innovations receives a grant from the WakeMed Foundation. This allows us to get prototypes developed, so we can help support and develop ideas at the next level.

Diana tells us, “The WakeMed Foundation has been incredibly supportive of our employees’ ideas to solve problems. With a generous grant from Foundation, we’re able to further test those ideas and create prototypes.”

External innovations are funded by WakeMed. We also develop partnerships to launch these innovations on a large scale.

“Many companies want to work with WakeMed, but we’re extremely selective about external innovations we choose to support. We prioritize external innovations where our missions are aligned and we have the opportunity to co-develop a solution that will help solve problems for our employees, patients, or community,” explains Rhyne.

One particular example of an innovation that began internally and then grew into an external innovation with a partner company is Dr. Mark Piehl’s Life Flow device.  WakeMed Innovations helped Dr. Piehl and the Life Flow team navigate the complexities involved in ideating and producing this device.

Piehl says, “When the LifeFlow was first used to save the life of a two-year girl with sepsis in our Children’s Emergency Department, we realized that every bit of effort had been worth it.”

[Meet LifeFlow Innovator, Dr. Mark Piehl]

The Benefits

Ultimately, the goal of WakeMed Innovations is find a solution to identified problems and address pain points.

“WakeMed Innovations’ goal is to find and create solutions to problems seen in our health system,” says Rhyne. “From innovations such as Karen Tsang RN’s nasal aspirator to help young children with respiratory infections, to clinical engineering’s 3-D printed support structures for our neonatal cameras, WakeMed’s employees are key to creating impactful solutions for our patients and community.”

WakeMed Innovations is committed to fostering a culture of innovation, our main desire being to impact the top of the WakeMed pyramid.

Have an Innovative Idea?

• Contact innovations@wakemed.org with questions.
• Use the QR code below to access the idea submission form.