When her ideas started bubbling up, and could no longer be contained by indulging in occasional daydreams, Dr. Sharon Conley was an accomplished M.D., specializing in medical oncology – cancer care – with a Ph.D. in Biochemistry. She headed up the transplant program at her hospital and was active in the day-to-day clinical practice of medicine. Meaning, she had lots of really sick patients in the hospital to care for, a busy office practice, and a professional partnership to help operate. She was busy. And she was restless. And troubled.
She was troubled because her sick patients, who frequently had a lot of pain associated with their conditions, were uncomfortable much of the time they were in the hospital. And she was restless because she knew there had to be better ways to help them be more comfortable in that setting – when they were there for care intended to make things better. She was also restless because the ideas she had for how to address that goal, were just that: intangible imaginings.
Eventually this got the better of her and she took action – the first step in the creation process of turning nothing (those ephemeral ideas) into something. She captured one of her ideas and wrote it down. That action turned into some drawings, and it all turned into a provisional patent application. And then a call to my office.
In our initial consultation call, Dr. Conley told me she had a product she wanted to bring to market, and explained that she had a number of ideas for how to make patient care at the bedside a better experience … for the patients. As a nurse, listening to a doctor talk of something other than diagnosis and treatment – specifically compassionate care – I was intrigued. She explained about a device she had invented that would allow patients to directly access their physician prescribed pain relieving medicines when they were due on their own, at the bedside, without having to call a nurse and wait for a single dose to be delivered. She wanted to manufacture it and make it available to as many patients in as many health care settings as possible. As a professional coach focused on business development and personal fulfillment, I was eager to help her do it.
A great idea and a lofty goal combined to make an incredible legacy story. Read the rest of it, here.
What has developed from there is a sophisticated business system, utilizing the most applicable legal structures, and incorporating an amazing team of people all inspired to rally around the project. She didn’t know from the start what she could do, she just believed in the possibilities and was willing to take action – and seek help for doing it. As a result, Dr. Conley developed into a physician entrepreneur pursuing a socially noble purpose. See more about her company and its first product, the MOD device, by clicking here: AVANCEN: Improving Patient Care At The Bedside.
Legacy ideas come in all forms and sizes. Will you be a mother of invention for one of yours?