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REVIEW article

Front. Digit. Health
Sec. Health Technology Implementation
Volume 6 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fdgth.2024.1386998

Assessing health technology implementation during academic research and early-stage development: Support tools for awareness and guidance: a review

Provisionally accepted
Meyke Roosink Meyke Roosink 1*LIsette v. Gemert-Pijnen LIsette v. Gemert-Pijnen 1Ruud Verdaasdonk Ruud Verdaasdonk 2Saskia M. Kelders Saskia M. Kelders 1
  • 1 Faculty of Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences, University of Twente, Enschede, Netherlands
  • 2 Faculty of Science & Technology, University of Twente, Enschede, Netherlands

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    For successful health technology innovation and implementation it is key to, in an early phase, understand the problem and whether a proposed innovation is the best way to solve the problem. This review performed an initial exploration of published tools that support innovators in academic research and early stage development with awareness and guidance along the end-to-end process of development, evaluation and implementation of health technology innovations.Tools were identified from scientific literature as well as in grey literature by non-systematic searches in public research databases and search engines, and based on expert referral. A total number of 14 tools were included. Tools were classified as either readiness level tool (n=6), questionnaire/checklist tool (n=5) or guidance tool (n=3). A qualitative analysis of the tools identified 5 key domains, 5 innovation phases and 3 implementation principles. All tools were mapped for (partially) addressing the identified domains, phases, and principles.The present review provides awareness of available tools and of important aspects of health technology innovation and implementation (versus non-technological or non-health related technological innovations). Considerations for tool selection include for example the purpose of use (awareness or guidance) and the type of health technology innovation. Considerations for novel tool development include the specific challenges in academic and early stage development settings, the translation of implementation to early innovation phases, and the importance of multi-disciplinary strategic decision-making. A remaining attention point for future studies is the validation and effectiveness of (self-assessment) tools, especially in the context of support preferences and available support alternatives.

    Keywords: health technology, innovation, implementation, Support tool, medical device

    Received: 16 Feb 2024; Accepted: 06 Jun 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Roosink, Gemert-Pijnen, Verdaasdonk and Kelders. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Meyke Roosink, Faculty of Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences, University of Twente, Enschede, 7522 NB, Netherlands

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.