Healthcare Innovation—The Epital: A Living Lab in the Intersection Between the Informal and Formal Structures

Louise Hesseldal; Lars Kayser

doi:10.18778/1733-8077.12.2.04

Authors

Louise Hesseldal University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Lars Kayser University of Copenhagen, Denmark

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18778/1733-8077.12.2.04

Keywords:

Healthcare, Healthcare Innovation, Living Labs, Laboratory, Epital

Abstract

This study explores an alternative healthcare innovation project in its making using ethnographic research methods. The project is a confined space—a living lab—that cannot fully be described or explained in the same way we normally understand set-ups for healthcare innovation. By creating its own space, in the intersection between formal and informal structures, it draws our attention to a new way of organizing healthcare innovation.

Taking an ethnographic research approach, it is suggested how a concept of a bubble can be used to describe the nature of the living lab as a partial and flexible object that constitutes multiple future possibilities. The concept of the bubble challenges the notion of the living lab as a cheese bell, which is the term used by the field participants, inspired by Clayton Christensen. Bringing in theoretical points from Bruno Latour regarding laboratories, this study explores the materiality of the laboratory and its political nature.

The study contributes to the debate on innovation in healthcare and especially fuses to the discussion of how to organize healthcare innovation. It argues that we need to pay attention to new kinds of living labs—like the one introduced in this study.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

Louise Hesseldal, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

Louise Hesseldal has an MSSc degree from Copenhagen Business School (2012). She is working in the field of health and qualitative research, and currently works in Novo Nordisk, project managing the development and implementation of a qualitative research framework in five cities in collaboration with local and global academic institutions. The research framework focuses on unveiling social and cultural determinants in diabetes. She has a particular interest in ethnography and the intersection between health innovation and social science.
Lars Kayser, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

Lars Kayser, PhD MD, Board certified specialist in internal medicine. Lars Kayser is an Associate Professor at the Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen where he is the director of Health Informatics study at the University. Lars Kayser is working in the field of Health Informatics and innovation and since 2011 has been affiliated with the Epital project as a research leader. He has a particular interest in health literacy, e-health literacy, and innovative redesign of healthcare provision.

References

Blok, Anders and Torben E. Jensen. 2009. Bruno Latour. Hybride tanker i en hybrid verden. København: Hans Reitzel.

Brown, Steven D. 2002. “Michel Serres: Science, Translation, and the Logic of the Parasite.” Theory Culture Society 19(3):1-27. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0263276402019003001

Brown, Steven D. 2013. “In Praise of the Parasite: The Dark Organizational Theory of Michel Serres.” Informática na Educação: teoria e prática 16(1):83-100. DOI: https://doi.org/10.22456/1982-1654.36928

Christensen, Clayton M. 2003. The Innovator’s Dilemma: The Revolutionary Book That Will Change the Way You Do Business. New York: HarperBusiness.

Christensen, Clayton M. 2009. The Innovator’s Prescription: A Disruptive Solution for Health Care. New York: The McGraw Hill.

DEA. 2013. “Fra forskning til faktura.” Retrieved February 28, 2016 http://dea.nu/publikationer/forskning-faktura

Den Nationale Videnskabsetiske Komité. 2013. “Guidelines About Notification.” Retrieved February 28, 2016 http://www.dnvk.dk/English/guidelinesaboutnotification.aspx

eHealth Task Force. 2012. eHealth Task Force Report – Redesigning Health in Europe for 2020. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union.

Emerson, Robert M., Rachel I. Fretz, and Linda L. Shaw. 1995. Writing Ethnographic Field Notes. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226206851.001.0001

Hansen, Birgitte G. 2011. Adapting in the Knowledge Economy: Lateral Strategies for Scientists and Those Who Study Them. PhD Series 22. Copenhagen Business School.

Jensen, Casper B. 2010. Ontologies for Developing Things: Making Health Care Futures Through Technology. Rotterdam: Sense.

Kierkegaard, Patrick. 2013. “eHealth in Denmark: A Case Study.” Journal of Medical Systems 37(6):9991. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10916-013-9991-y

Kleinman, Daniel L. 2003. Impure Cultures: University Biology and the World of Commerce. Science and Technology in Society. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.

Latour, Bruno. 1983. “Give Me a Laboratory and I Will Raise the World.” Pp. 257-274 in The Science Studies Reader, edited by M. Biagoli. London, New York: Routledge.

Latour, Bruno. 1987. Science in Action: How to Follow Scientists and Engineers Through Society. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Latour, Bruno. 1988. The Pasteurization of France. London: Harvard University Press.

Latour, Bruno. 1991. “Technology Is Society Made Durable.” Pp. 103- 131 in A Sociology of Monsters: Essays on Power, Technology, and Domination, edited by J. Law. London: Routledge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-954X.1990.tb03350.x

Latour, Bruno. 2005. Reassembling the Social: An Introduction to Actor- Network Theory. New York: Oxford University Press.

Latour, Bruno. 2008. En ny sociologi for et nyt samfund – introduktion til aktørnetvæk-teori. København: Akademisk Forlag.

Marcus, George E. 1995. “Ethnography in/of the World System: The Emergence of Multi-Sited Ethnography.” Annual Review of Anthropology 24:95-117. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.an.24.100195.000523

May, Carl R. et al. 2009. “Development of a Theory of Implementation and Integration: Normalization Process Theory.” Implementation Science 4:29. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/1748-5908-4-29

Phanareth, Klaus et al. 2013. “Epital Health – A Disruptive and Research Based Approach to Service Transformation of Health Care Systems.” International Journal of Integrated Care 13:1-2. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5334/ijic.1419

Strathern, Marilyn. 1999. Property, Substance, and Effect: Anthropological Essays on Persons and Things. New Jersey: The Athlone Press.

Timson, George. n.d. “The History of the Hardhats.” Retrieved September 17, 2014 http://www.hardhats.org/history/hardhats.html