HopHacks

HopHacks was held on the Johns Hopkins University campus September 15-17.

The Patient Safety Technology Challenge returned to Johns Hopkins University (JHU) to sponsor another event on campus – HopHacks. HopHacks was held on JHU’s campus on September 15-17, coinciding with World Patient Safety Day. At the event, Countability was awarded a $750 prize for the best technology-enabled patient safety solution.

The winning team created Countability, which employs computer vision and object tracking to take real-time inventory of surgical implements during procedures. It sends alerts when objects are unaccounted for to reduce medical harm from surgical tools being left inside of patients. Members of the winning team include Samuel Lihn, Malcom Krolick, Shivam Aarya, and Tarini Basireddy, all students of JHU. The inciting incident that led the team to create Countability was a news article they found which was published a week before the event. The news story highlighted that a dinner plate-sized surgical tool was left in a New Zealander after a Cesarean section. The team shared the statistic that 1 out of every 1,000 surgeries has surgical tool retention. The team believes the problem currently does not have an affordable, consistent solution, which led to the creation of Countability. 

HopHacks Director Akhil Deo shared, “HopHacks is a wonderful event because it drives innovation, fosters collaboration, and turns creative ideas into solutions for real-world problems like patient safety.” Overall, students from 22 universities participated in the Patient Safety Track. The Patient Safety Technology Challenge’s presence raised awareness of the opportunity to create tech-enabled solutions to patient safety.