The Pacemaker

The Pacemaker

Game-changing ideas are those that alter or change the landscape of a particular topic or field. Some of these game-changing ideas have been in the form of inventions that were discovered by accident with unintentional errors. One such game changer is that of the pacemaker, which is responsible for bringing about a serious change for patients suffering from heartbeat irregularities.

The Accident

An electrical engineer by the name of Wilson Greatbatch from the University of Buffalo in the year 1956 was working on a circuit for a Chronic Disease Research Institute to record heart sounds at the time. However while assembling his device, he installed an incorrect resistor into his circuit and as a result, he discovered that his circuit was pulsing at what sounded like a heartbeat. Familiar with heartbeat irregularities, Wilson Greatbatch realized the potential for his mistake; however, it would not be until 1958 when he met with William Chardack from the Buffalo Veterans Administration Hospital and both men successfully tested the device on a dog. Later in 1960, ten pacemakers would be installed into human patients successfully as a result of Greatbatch’s original mistake (Technology Review , 2001 ).    

The Forces that Supported

The advent of the pacemaker filled the demand from a need for medical patients suffering from heart complications in order to regulate their heart beat. In this case, the invention took some time before it could even get off of the ground due to the simple fact of a lack of enthusiasm from the initial time it was discovered. The real push forward was the test conducted in 1958 with William Chardack when they successfully tested the pacemaker on a live dog to determine whether or not the device would work. This was essential to the pacemaker taking off in the medical field, as it solidified the fact that the device was capable of working and serving a benefit to the medical world.

Points Learned

Wilson Greatbatch was an electrical engineer that developed a medical device; it was not until he was able to work with a medical doctor willing to test his device that it would start to gain traction in the medical field. This point is important because it shows that for this particular accidental invention, it took an actual test in order by experts in the medical field before it would be widely accepted. This brings to the forefront the issue that many startup companies face and that is gaining traction with their new idea and bringing it to market (Davila & Epstein, 2014).

    The second point taken is that even though the product was developed and worked, Wilson Greatbatch continued to make improvements on his product and eventually developed a corrosion-free lithium battery which extended the life of his pacemakers from two years to ten years (Technology Review , 2001 ). This was a breakthrough innovation, but Greatbatch continued to improve on his discovery, which is what is called incremental innovation, where the product being developed continues to be refined and made better (Davila & Epstein, 2014). 

Conclusion

In conclusion, the advent of the pacemaker was a breakthrough innovation that helped to greatly benefit a population of patients within the medical field suffering from heart irregularities. The support for this innovation came from an expert in the medical field who helped the inventor successfully test his device causing it to gain traction in the medical field. The inventor then continued an incremental refinement of his device as time went on refining his product for the benefit of the patients.

References

Davila, T., & Epstein, M. J. (2014). The innovation paradox . San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.

Technology Review . (2001 ). Setting the pace. Technology Review , 104(7), 96 .