Creativity in health care

The health care industry needs creativity and innovation to address challenges with quality, safety, cost, and access to care through the development and implementation of new or improved policies, processes, systems, products, technologies, diagnoses and treatments, services, and care delivery methods. In this chapter we first discuss the relevance of and need for creativity and innovation in the field of health care as they relate to health care delivery. Second, we summarize literature on creativity and innovation in health care and discuss specific applications and examples as they relate to health care delivery following the 7c’s of creativity categories: creators, creating, collaborations, context, creations, consumption, and curricula. Finally, we present several opportunities for future research to advance our understanding of creativity and innovation in health care.