Implementation 101 and how to fail well

Global Perspectives on Digital Health

Implementation. What does it mean? Why is it hard? How do we get it right?
Failure. Are we, in Global Digital Health, thinking and acting in a way that doesn't help us move forward?

Caroline Perrin, Director of the Geneva Digital Health Hub joins us on the Global Perspectives on Digital Health podcast to share her views on this.

This episode is for the people doing the work to ensure digital health tools actually work for people.

It's about the messy realities - people, process, managing change and looking to constantly improve as our assumptions get updated. How to work through the hard, day to day challenges towards real outcomes for people experiencing and delivering care.

We hear about:

• How the Geneva Digital Health Hub's Implementome maps out implementations across the world, especially the Global south and brings together a Community of people wrestling similar problems for knowledge exchange and connection
• The key challenges in getting digital health tools adopted, and how to use good implementation principles to get through the messy, day to day realities
• Challenges in Monitoring and Evaluation, and how to get the balance right between impact on what matters and what is in your locus of control.
• How our industry and ecosystem needs to rethink how we talk about failure, and how we're opening up this conversation at the Geneva Digital Health day on 22 May 2025
• Plus some great examples and ways you can share challenges to contribute to the ecosystem.

Links:

• Building and Implementing? Join Implementome: https://gdhub.unige.ch/implementome/main
• Digital Health Atlas: https://gdhub.unige.ch/implementome/projects
• Geneva Digital Health Day: https://gdhub.org/25gdhd/
• Implementation Reports: https://medinform.jmir.org/themes/145-implementation-report
• iCHECK-DH Guidelines: https://www.jmir.org/2023/1/e46694

Chapters (with quick links)

00:00
Introduction to Digital Health and Geneva Digital Health Hub

07:40
Understanding Implementation in Digital Health

12:22
A community of implementors

20:09
Approaching Implementation as Founders and Developers

26:19
Monitoring and Evaluation Challenges

32:45
Future of Digital Health in Underserved Communities

35:31
Navigating Uncertainty in Digital Health Projects

38:45
Rethinking Success and Failure in Health Evaluations

45:46
The Need for a Paradigm Shift in Global Health

49:53
Creating Safe Spaces for Sharing Failures

54:04
Building Communities of Practice for Learning

57:30
Finding Hope in the Face of Challenges

About Caroline

Caroline Perrin is the Executive Director of the Geneva Digital Health Hub (gdhub) and has over 15 years of experience in digital innovation, programme management and multi-stakeholder collaboration. She specialises in using technology to improve the efficiency, sustainability and impact of health care.

With a PhD in Global Health, a Master's in Information Systems Management, and a Bachelor's in Business Administration, she has led large-scale digital health initiatives and worked with governments, international organisations, and the private sector to drive innovation and policy alignment.

Previously, she was a project manager for the RAFT telemedicine network and the Geneva University Hospitals eHealth and Telemedicine Service, focusing on the development and evaluation of digital health solutions to strengthen health systems. Caroline is passionate about bridging technology, strategy and policy to create scalable, high-impact solutions.

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