Breakthrough Insights in Healthcare

Hungry to Learn

By Dr. Nick van Terheyden aka Dr. Nick
Twitter: @drnic1
Host of Dr. Nick: The Incrementalist#TheIncrementalist

On this episode I talked to Spencer Jones, RN Founder and CTO of Lineus Medical, maker of the SafeBreak Vascular device. Spencer started his journey as a Nurse but was frustrated with technology and solutions that were not delivering the best possible care. There is likely no clinician that is not familiar with the challenge of intravenous drips that fail or are pulled out by accident.

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In the journey to developing a solution to this problem, Spencer discovered a number of key insights that were important to help stimulate innovation. these incremental learning points included:

  • The constant hunger for new knowledge and desire to learn
  • Getting the right mentors
  • Non-linear thinking
  • Big value from Entrepreneur Support Organizations (ESO)

You can see the SafeBreak device in action here:


His watershed moment came when he had an opportunity that required him to break from his dual role of leading a startup company and working as a nurse to pay the bills.

Listen in to hear the key breakthrough insights on the path to successful innovation built on a foundation of extensive data gathering.

About the Show
For years Dr. Nick van Terheyden aka Dr. Nick, has served as a voice on the impact of new technologies on healthcare, earning a reputation as a leading authority on where the future of medicine is going. Combining powers of observation and real world experience, Dr. Nick has seen many predictions come true and makes the case that innovations in healthcare can be accomplished incrementally, not just by moonshot events. Tune in to hear Dr. Nick: The Incrementalist and his guests discuss what the future of healthcare looks like, how we will get there, and what it will take to improve healthcare for all.

This article was originally published on the Dr. Nick – The Incrementalist blog and is republished here with permission.