Here at SensorMed, our mission statement is simple. We want to improve the quality of patient care, one innovation at a time. I’m aware that this mission statement is fairly ambiguous. Mission statements aren’t supposed to be lengthy and all-encompassing. Most companies miss this point. As the author and venture capitalist Guy Kawasaki says, “Creating a mission statement is usually a painful and frustrating experience that results in exceptional mediocrity”. So maybe we’re no different than anyone else in this regard. However, I believe that it is our approach to this mission that is differentiated and significant.

Let me explain – our company was founded because of an observed need in the operating room. Our co-founder, Dr. Michael Doody, noticed that there was something missing in the laparoscopic surgeries he was performing. These procedures required him to insert a medical needle, called a Verres needle, into a very small and dangerously located abdominal cavity. You would think that with all the advances in modern medicine, there would be some sort of effective safety device to ensure proper placement of this needle, so that it didn’t go too far and lacerate a patient’s bowel, or worse, part of their vascular structure. But there wasn’t. There was nothing except Dr. Doody’s feel and intuition to help him guide these needles into the right space. So . . . he invented something to help him do it. 8 years later, that technology has been patented, tested, prototyped, and tested again. We created our company to explore commercial applications around it. It remains at the core of our business model. And the reason it exists is simple – we paid attention to a real need. That’s what we do here at SensorMed. We look for real needs in healthcare, and we create solutions for them.

One of the most simultaneously frustrating and wonderful things about healthcare is the constant opportunity for improvement. There will always be better ways to provide treatment to a patient, new discoveries that blow the roof off of what we thought was possible, new ways to manage a patient’s data records, to ensure (or insure) that a patient gets the quality of healthcare they deserve. Here at SensorMed, we’re looking for the areas that have a real need for new innovation. By providing solutions to those needs, we’re providing the opportunity for patients, clinicians, and hospitals to be involved in a better healthcare experience. And that’s good news for everyone.