Implementing Additive Manufacturing in Cardiology : A qualitative study of barriers and facilitators from a managemental point of view

Sammanfattning: Additive Manufacturing (AM) is a fast-developing technology, that despite itspotential is yet to be applied by the mainstream healthcare market. Comparedto other clinical areas where AM is applied, cardiology has a negligible marketshare, why this thesis aimed at identifying barriers and facilitators for AMimplementation, as well as presenting a framework with factors to considerwhen attempting to implement AM. A literature review outlined aspects currently considered in literature, inrelation to the barriers and facilitators of implementing AM in cardiology. Toidentify barriers and facilitators to AM implementation in cardiology, and tocomplement the literature review, two exploratory case studies were carriedout, which had a comparative design. The case studies took place in Sweden,whereof one has already implemented AM in cardiology, and the other one hasnot. Purposive sampling was applied to choose the two involved hospitals, whileconvenience sampling and snowball sampling were used for selecting interviewparticipants. The findings were analyzed using a thematic analysis. Results show that barriers and facilitators can act on an individual,organizational, and industrial level. Barriers and facilitators were divided intothe themes Management, Technology, Network, Behavior, and Market. Aspectsfalling under the theme Management were mentioned most frequently amongthe respondents, suggesting that such barriers and facilitators play a significantrole in implementing AM, while findings placed in the Network and Behaviortheme respectively were not previously addressed in literature. Barriersinclude, among others, low involvement of leaders, little cross disciplinarycollaboration, and lack of innovation resources in health care. Facilitatorsinclude, among others, having an innovation culture that supports initiation ofprojects, providing an easy and intuitive system for ordering a 3D model, andpromoting the technology among potential users. Concluded is that AM implementation faces numerous barriers and facilitatorswhich should be considered before an implementation endeavor. Addressingthese on an individual, organizational, and industrial level most likely facilitatesthe process of AM implementation, leading to a successful and sustainablechange in the organization.