Healthcare Hackathons Provide Educational and Innovation Opportunities: A Case Study and Best Practice Recommendations.
Physicians and other healthcare professionals are often the end users of medical innovation; however, they are rarely involved in the beginning design stages. This often results in ineffective healthcare solutions with poor adoption rates. At the early design stage, innovation would benefit from input from healthcare professionals. This report describes the first-ever rehabilitation hackathon-an interdisciplinary and competitive team event aimed at accelerating and improving healthcare solutions and providing an educational experience for participants. Hackathons are gaining traction as a way to accelerate innovation by bringing together a diverse group of interdisciplinary professionals from different industries who work collaboratively in teams and learn from each other, focus on a specific problem ("pain point"), develop a solution using design thinking techniques, pitch the solution to participants, gather fast feedback and quickly alter the prototype design ("pivoting"). 102 hackers including 19 (18.6 %) physicians and other professionals participated, and over the course of 2 days worked in teams, pitched ideas and developed design prototypes. Three awards were given for prototypes that may improve function in persons with disabilities. 43 hackers were women (42.2 %) and 59 men (57.8 %); they ranged in age from 16 to 79 years old; and, of the 75 hackers who reported their age, 63 (84 %) were less than 40 years old and 12 (16 %) were 40 years or older. This report contributes to the emerging literature on healthcare hackathons as a means of providing interdisciplinary education and training and supporting innovation.
Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Harvard Medical School, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, 300 1st Avenue, Charlestown, MA, 02129, USA. julie_silver@hms.harvard.edu.|Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, 02114, USA. julie_silver@hms.harvard.edu.|Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, 02115, USA. julie_silver@hms.harvard.edu.
Julie K
JK
Silver
Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Harvard Medical School, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, 300 1st Avenue, Charlestown, MA, 02129, USA.|Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, 02114, USA.
David S
DS
Binder
Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Harvard Medical School, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, 300 1st Avenue, Charlestown, MA, 02129, USA.|Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, 02114, USA.
Nevena
N
Zubcevik
Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Harvard Medical School, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, 300 1st Avenue, Charlestown, MA, 02129, USA.|Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, 02114, USA.|Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.
Ross D
RD
Zafonte
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016494:Computer Security; D003219:Confidentiality; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D005260:Female; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000193:education*; D006801:Humans; D007256:Information Systems / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000592:standards; D007318:Inservice Training / Q000458:organization & administration*; D033183:Interdisciplinary Communication; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010348:Patient Care Team / Q000458:organization & administration*; D012985:Software Design; D055815:Young Adult
Education; Hackathon; Healthcare training; Innovation; Interdisciplinary; Rehabilitation