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Patient innovation (PI) activities in China: a combination of semi-quantitative and multi-case study approach
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User innovation has been extensively and increasingly involved in the health sector in recent years. As a typical performance, patients and caregivers develop innovative solutions beyond professional medical treatment, aiming to better respond to the diseases. In addition, some of those innovations are shared with other patients in need, through non-commercial and commercial approaches. In practice, PI (www.patient-innovation.com) platform was established in 2014 in Portugal, on which 850 innovations from patients, caregivers and collaborators are shared, fulfilling the mission of adding value to other people’s lives.
With the huge population base, there has been great diversity and significant regional differences in living, health and medical conditions among Chinese nations. Taken also the limited Reimbursement ratio of medical insurance, as well as the exposure to increasing innovation activities in recent years in China into account, those possibly act as incentives for patients and caregivers to develop innovated, alternative solutions besides medical treatments.
In this research project, we will focus exclusively on the patient innovation (PI) activities in China, thanks to its great potential. We aim to understand the following questions: 1. Do PI activities actively happen in China? 2. What are the findings and typical examples of PI activities in China? 3. What are the characteristics of PI activities and the influencing factors of PI in China? What are the differences of PI China comparing with those in developed countries?
Given the complexity of the research and the limitations of the information sources, in our research work, both a multi-case study (online search for publicly available PI activities) and a quantitative approach (survey among patients with chronic disease and caregivers) are applied.
55 online-available PI cases and 509 survey samples have been collected from China, which we’ve then screened and identified PI activities for further evaluation and statistical analysis.
Our results have indicated a relatively activeness of PI activities in China with many practical examples. 1/3 patients or caregivers have reported innovation initiatives, and according to medical professionals, 13,5% have got a solution considered as reasonable, and 13,3% holds a meaningful idea, with many constraints possibly hinder implementation. Those PI activities has significantly improved the health and life quality, and some are shared with other people in need. Certain factors such as educational level and geographical region are likely to influence PI activities in China. In addition, PI activities in China shares some characteristics and influencing factors of those in Portugal, despite relatively simple and lower in technical contents.
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User innovation Healthcare Patients Caregivers Chronic disease China