Recently met up with a senior nephrologist from Chicago US. During our conversation he mentioned something called buttonhole cannulation technique. I was surprised as I had never heard of it. When he mentioned that its a painless way for dialysis when compared to Fistula needles, I came back and did some research.
I am pretty surprised that these techniques are not prevalent in India. If buttonhole access are used to connect to fistula then there is no pain, its so easy that patients do it themselves. Such techniques is what India requires where there is lack of skilled medical workers. I spoke to a few players here and they said it doesn't work in India, its tough to do it etc.
Research shows that Buttonhole access doesn't affect quality of dialysis, but patient satisfaction is very high due to lack of pain. If something like this is so useful for patients, then patients should be taught about it and therapy should be made more popular even if it means little more work initially for the medical professionals. After all healthcare sector is about the patients. Here is a link on youtube about self cannulation using buttonhole access - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1ed9DifSmU
The blog will act as a platform for us at Sparsh nephrocare to interact with various stakeholders in dialysis care. It will be a medium to inform people of the different activities happening in dialysis world - from cutting edge research about new product offerings to innovative service delivery ideas. We will also inform you about progress at our end through this blog.
Friday, July 15, 2011
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Phases
If I may divide the phases of a venture I would call them - Surviving, Expanding and Sustaining. We are in the surviving phase right now.
There was a long delay between the last post and this. In between we opened our second dialysis center. We also changed our business model a bit which reduces our return but also reduces our risk. In our second center Sparsh took over the operational responsibilities while the marketing responsibilities remained with the hospital. This model is unlike our first center where we just have rented space in a hospital and take over all the responsibilities.
Trying out different models is a necessity while you are growing. Its better to make a mistake now than later. From the small experience that we have gained so far, the most important thing for a startup is the cash cycle. Getting payments from customers (in our case hospital who collect the cash from patients) and making payment adjustments with vendors is most important. The less time you spend in these activities the more you can focus on your core job. Although entrepreneurs initially are skeptical regarding off loading stake for cash, I would suggest its better to have the cash cushion so that you are free to pursue value-added activities. This will help the firm grow faster. One advice which I have heard numerous times and now have started believing in it "100% of 25 is better than 50% of 100". If you have access to personal cash to fund your venture then nothing like it else offloading stake to get cash helps you to grow.
More on HR issues in the next post.
There was a long delay between the last post and this. In between we opened our second dialysis center. We also changed our business model a bit which reduces our return but also reduces our risk. In our second center Sparsh took over the operational responsibilities while the marketing responsibilities remained with the hospital. This model is unlike our first center where we just have rented space in a hospital and take over all the responsibilities.
Trying out different models is a necessity while you are growing. Its better to make a mistake now than later. From the small experience that we have gained so far, the most important thing for a startup is the cash cycle. Getting payments from customers (in our case hospital who collect the cash from patients) and making payment adjustments with vendors is most important. The less time you spend in these activities the more you can focus on your core job. Although entrepreneurs initially are skeptical regarding off loading stake for cash, I would suggest its better to have the cash cushion so that you are free to pursue value-added activities. This will help the firm grow faster. One advice which I have heard numerous times and now have started believing in it "100% of 25 is better than 50% of 100". If you have access to personal cash to fund your venture then nothing like it else offloading stake to get cash helps you to grow.
More on HR issues in the next post.
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