Improving Medical Device Safety and Performance: From Passive Reporting to Active Surveillance and Beyond

Medical device use is expanding with emergence of sophisticated applications to gather, store, process, and communicate patient-centric data.   Diversity, fast-paced technological advances, and complex interfaces between users and technology complicate challenges associated with promoting medical device safety.  The purpose of this conceptual paper is to evaluate strategies for improving medical device safety and performance through collaborative evidence generation and innovative analytics.   Developing public-private partnerships and the infrastructure for active surveillance, evidence generation, and data analytics requires engaged and enlightened institutional leadership who share a common vision and values. Integration of interprofessional initiatives may remediate the silo mentality pandemic in the healthcare community, harness the digital revolution for surveillance, and promote improvements in medical device safety and performance.