MedHacks

The inaugural competition of the Patient Safety Technology Challenge was MedHacks, a premier medical hackathon at Johns Hopkins University. MedHacks, held September 9–11 at Fast Forward U in Baltimore, Maryland, is one of the largest student-run hackathons in the nation. The Patient Safety Technology Challenge, with funding from the Pittsburgh Regional Health Initiative, sponsored the “Big Idea: Best Technology-Enabled Patient Safety Solutions” track. This track challenged teams to think through technology-enabled solutions to the persistent problem of medical error. In addition, teams were tasked to think of patient safety solutions that could reduce burnout and high turnover rates among healthcare workers. Teams were judged on these criteria by two patient safety experts: Jonathan Sullivan, healthcare product marketing expert, and Michael McShea, MS, MBA, group chief scientist of Health and Human-Machine Systems at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab.  

The top team was the Wireless Fall Alert System. The idea was inspired by the team’s personal experience with older adults experiencing falls in the home. The team tried other wearables and emergency alert button system, but none adequately addressed the issue. So, they came up with a specialized wearable device that detects falls and alerts emergency contacts through SMS. The Wireless Fall Alert System will collect data, and machine learning-based pattern recognition will be implemented to reduce falls.  This team crafted a solution that leaned on innovative technology to solve a persistent problem.

PneuComp was the next top team. The team decided to take one of the most preventable causes of death in hospital settings: venous thromboembolism, which is responsible for up to 100,000 death a year in the United States. PneuComp is a tool that makes intermittent pneumatic compressors more efficient and effective by focusing on user adherence. This is done by collecting data from the device on patient use of the compressors , which is analyzed by medical professionals. The goal is to achieve patient-focused comfort and adherence, which in turn increases patient safety.

Rounding out the finalists was Memory Meds, which focuses on on decreasing patient misdiagnosis and prescribing errors through the use of application where patients can input their medical histories.  Memory Meds is imagined as a tool that will give users the ability to advocate for themselves.

We’re thrilled that MedHacks, the first event of the Patient Safety Technology Challenge, set the bar high with numerous innovative patient safety technology solutions.