Gulf Coast VA employees in iNET program have great ideas to help Veterans

Two Gulf Coast VA employees have two great ideas that will improve service to Veterans. The two projects were re-selected by VA's Innovator's Network (iNET) in September to advance as Seed investments. They will be joining more than 500 plus previous network investees.

What are they?

One is a program to allow the transfer of near-expiring surgical implants and supplies from one VA to other VA facilities. The program will aid in decreasing waste and decrease the organization's carbon footprint.

The other is a Veteran Integrated Chair Kiosk (pictured above) which will decontaminate and provide inventory of facility wheelchairs. The kiosk will also alert VA's Patient Safety office to any operation issues which should take the wheelchair out of circulation.

Designed to use innovation for better Veteran experience

iNET's Spark-Seed-Spread Innovation Investment Program is an initiative designed to employ a diverse range of practices using innovation to deliver a better experience for Veterans, their caregivers and VA employees.

Gulf Coast VA is one of 37 VA iNet sites nationwide. iNET was launched in 2015 to build and empower a community of VA front line employees who actively move the organization forward by innovation.

The iNET-sponsored Spark-Seed-Spread Innovation Investment Program serves as a mechanism to provide employees an avenue to identify and accelerate employee-designed innovations that improve experiences for Veterans and employees.

Chosen by iNET facility leadership and national subject matter experts, teams will receive resources to advance their innovative solution into reality, and they will go through the Spark-Seed-Spread Innovation Accelerator Program. Run like a business start-up would, the Accelerator will provide resources and training to operationalize their early-stage innovations.

These resources include human-centered design training, lean start-up education, pitching, design, and lessons in storytelling.

The "eBay for VA"

Both investees were selected to share their projects at the National 2022 VHA Innovators Experience Conference in October. iNET then kicked off the FY23 Investment cycle with an Accelerator Bootcamp held in Washington, D.C. in November.

Shanna Jenkins, Gulf Coast VA implant coordinator, is creating the VHA Inventory Exchange Program. She considers her program the "EBay for VA." Last year, during her Spark Idea Investment, Jenkins collaborated with national VHA Office of Information and Technology (OIT) subject matter experts to gain expertise, knowledge and feedback in creating a mock website with open-source software for her program.

The items that will initially be exchanged are surgical implants and supplies. Decreasing the number of surgical implants expired each year has been an on-going issue throughout many VHA facilities nationwide.

Kiosk will provide inventory of wheelchairs

The second investee, Infection Control Registered Nurse Kristin Mate, is creating a prototype for a Veteran Integrated Chair Kiosk (VICK). The kiosk will decontaminate and provide inventory of facility wheelchairs. Last year, she partnered with California Polytechnic State University School of Engineering students to develop a functioning prototype.

The wheelchair kiosk prototype includes ultraviolet disinfection use for decontamination of the wheelchairs, radio frequency identification tracking to track the wheelchairs, and cataloguing of the wheelchairs for notifications to be sent when to replacement or repair is needed.

Elizabeth Williams and Sheena Strong, innovation specialists, will mentor Jenkins and Mate to further develop these projects.

"Seeing employees using Human Centered Design to solve problems and watching them come to fruition is incredible to witness," Williams said.

The Incubator is a six-week virtual series dedicated to assist employees to learn important processes through human-center design and three-box solution to create successful innovative programs and prototypes. Check out the VHA Innovators Network website to learn more.

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