2025 Medical Device Resolutions Round-Up
Anybody have a medical device commercialization resolution that comes to mind? Perhaps the following StarFish employee resolutions (and Un-resolutions) will inspire your 2025 plans. Improved communications, aligning goals, using new tools, and going paperless are among the resolutions cited in this year’s round-up.
Communications
I resolve to improve collaboration by increasing the two-way communication with clients. This will help with deliverables, expectations and what workflows are for everybody.
I resolve is to deliver a webinar or an interview with someone who’s been inspired by the human factors in medical device design course we created with University of Victoria. At Medical Device Playbook Vancouver, a former student came up to me. She was so inspired that she started her own medical device company that is now up and running. I don’t think there’s any other medical device consultancy that offers a university level course and then has students going back into the ecosystem.
With our recent acquisition of Omnica in California. My medical device commercialization resolution is to connect with and grow our network in Boston and California by continuing to develop and nurture medtech communities.
New Tools
I resolve to embrace new tools because we have them, and it will be great to get away from using paper in manufacturing. Technicians are very used to completing checklists. They print them and fill them in with pass, fail. My resolution includes earning how to give them electronic tools to do that on the floor and getting clients who like seeing wet signatures on documents comfortable with the technology.
I resolve to follow up closely all the medical device regulatory changes or requirement related to the AI. I get information for both the EU and US so I can better understand the changes and their impact on medical devices.
For the next few years, I resolve to expand our analysis capabilities. In 2025 our mission expands on these capabilities to include electromagnetics and other such interactions that can provide much broader application to medical device development.
I resolve to identify tasks or processes that my subgroup (optics) currently do multiple times and automate them as much as possible to make our processes more efficient and prevent people from having to repeat work or spend a lot of time understanding things that can be made simpler. I just finished a template for evaluating light hazard safety that outlines in simple language which measurements need to be done in all necessary detail. And then it automatically does all calculations and comparisons to the specified hazard light hazard limit values in the standard.
Aligning Goals
I resolve to focus on tailoring the transfer of commercialization and build strategies to help clients be successful in their goals and needs. For example, they may not need a production unit. Instead, they require a bunch of units they can put into the field to start collecting market data.
I resolve to identify ways to best support and add our own value to increase client valuations.
I resolve to NOT take the equipment management team for granted. It’s so nice to magically have calibrated and validated equipment ready when needed. Without them projects would typically come grinding to a halt.
I resolve to NOT spend my time on process enforcement at the expense of process improvement. Often we spend so much time auditing, reviewing and ensuring that processes are being operated in line with requirements, we lose track of the need to also ask ourselves “is this really necessary? How can we accomplish this more efficiently?” and work on improving the process for the benefit of clients and our internal users.
Paperless
I resolve to NOT use paper as much as possible. We have a lot of Device History Records (DHRs) that have the Bill of Materials, procedures, test reports, and a traveler (printed template that guides manufacturing teams through each step of production). It’s a lot of paper and it becomes a bit of a nightmare. Hopefully by the end of 2025, we will be done with paper DHRs. So, my UN resolution is to get rid of paper in our DHR system. And 2026, we can expand that to other places.
Currently we deal with physical paper. Oftentimes we end up scanning that in and then it’s not searchable if we need to hunt something down in the paperwork. You’re shuffling through papers rather than having it at your fingertips with digital records. So my medical device commercialization resolution resolves a whole bunch of problems.
I resolve to NOT forget about traceability when solving the paper issue of why we’ve done what we did. And throughout the project to think about having requirements traceable to your output and verification, everything together. When we move away from paper that kind of solves the problem.
Next Steps For Medical Device Commercialization Resolutions
Now’s the time to make a 2025 medical device commercialization resolution. Stuck on a possible Un resolution? Think of a Stop. Start. Continue. I resolve to stop doing these things are your Un resolutions and start and continue are great areas for 2025 resolutions. It might just get your commitment juices flowing.
If Improved communications, using new tools, aligning goals and going paperless sound like a mindset you would like to work with or for, contact us to discuss your medical device project or check out our career page to join us.
Astero StarFish is the attributed author of StarFish Medical team blogs. We value teamwork and collaborate on all of our medical device development projects.
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