2019

Patient Safety & Mental Health of Professionals

– Read the original article in Portuguese –

 

Patient Safety – Medication Mistakes was the focus of the 2019 Hacking Health hackathon in Espirito Santo (Brazil). This is my third year as a volunteer with this movement. In previous years, I had the opportunity to participate in the discussion on the following topics:

– Prevention of chronic diseases;
– Public health lack of money or management?
– Challenges of an aging population

 

During these three years, I have participated in several events with health professionals (public, private, philanthropic), entrepreneurs, managers, designers, technology personnel, and famous makers. If you’ve never attended a Hacking Health event, I highly recommend it! Excellent ideas and prototypes arise and benefit the whole community. 

 

Something caught my attention since the first edition I participated, no matter the environment (public health, private health, with and without structure). In all issues, the mental health of health professionals has surfaced. I have heard talks like:

“… It is useless having the most advanced technology if we are not motivated …”

“… As long as we are not treated with respect by our hierarchy, it is difficult always to be well to take care of our patients …”

“… Having 3 jobs and turning on duty can not decorate protocols …”

 

I am a psychologist with a specialization in mental health, and I have had the opportunity to develop my career in the public service (Family Health Program, Caps, Hospita gerall, etc.) and part in the private sector. And as it happened during a Hacking Health event, I pulled back memories and realized that this same discussion in the work environment is generally avoided.

The challenge of our 2019 hackathon is about reducing medication errors. And the obvious question must be asked:

What if health professionals’ mental health is correlated to medication errors?


And this question is international. In the US, according to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Interdisciplinary Nursing Quality Survey (INQRI), nurses experience depression at twice the rate of the general public. Depression affects 9% of ordinary people, but 18% of nurses experience symptoms of depression.

Ironically, health professionals, for many reasons (fear of losing their job, fear that the team considers them unbalanced, fear of showing weakness, etc.) are slow to identify that they are not doing well mentally. They usually attribute discouragement, lack of motivation, or concentration to the fact that they are overwhelmed or lack resources in the work environment, or even lack of appreciation or recognition.

They invented a name for this: Burnout Syndrome

Translated literally means burned out completely, it is a generalized exhaustion.

In the mid-1970s, the first studies appeared in the United States, identifying “burnout” as a syndrome manifested by the exhaustion experienced by workers as a consequence of negative experiences at work. The symptoms are very similar to stress.

However, burnout is always related to a work complaint that may derive from chronic and prolonged stress. Stress is transient, and burnout is continual stress where one is more and more exhausted. Studies show that the psychological profile is of a professional who is often competitive or likes everything right, with a tendency to be a perfectionist, among others. After the illness is established, it is common for the professional to present a lack of involvement with work, chronic stress, insensitivity to others, irritability, and irony towards co-workers.

And what are companies doing to prevent this from happening?

Throughout the year, I hope that Hacking Health promotes conversational wheels and clinics with managers, specialists in the area of People Management for the exchange of successful experiences in this sense. How much damage may occur if we do not take any action at all? For example, by taking care of the mental health of the healthcare professionals, would this not have a direct effect on the quality of the patient’s care? And may reduce the hospitalization time? – which has a direct impact on healthcare costs.

Sooner or later (hopefully sooner) entities will have to have this debate. But we are talking about health of individuals and we should not delegate our health and well-being to others. Yes it is necessary to deal with the day to day and demands, but everything is crystal clear: To be sick and/or exhausted or be hospitalized a little does not matter, the world will continue to turn.

We need to be our #1 priority.

Health professionals need this mental health care, and many do not admit they need it because they are in the role of caregivers. Talk about their experiences, what they feel, the possible causes, to be able to take care of the other without harming the productivity of their team.

By failing to address the issue we put the patient’s life at risk, that of the professional, and we miss the opportunity to guide and improve on Mental Health besides reducing the stigma, prejudice, and discrimination that exists.

We have a long journey ahead and need to learn a lot because there is no immediate revenue, but everything starts with a simple action:

Start talking about it!

About the author of the Post:

Alessandra Fischer is a volunteer at Hacking Health Brasil and the first leader at the Santa Catarina chapter. 25 years of development of actions related to Public Health more specifically in Mental Health with passages by the Municipal Health Secretariat Joinville. Zerbini Foundation, SPDM, and Joinville Regional Hospital. In these places, he had the opportunity to develop several actions from the reception, therapeutic support to patients and relatives, brief therapy and coordination of therapeutic groups

Pictures by Gustavo RPS.

Delphine DavanPatient Safety & Mental Health of Professionals
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Le Coopérathon Revient Cet Automne / Cooperathon Comes Back This Fall

Lisez le billet en français ici: https://hacking-health.org/fr/cooperathon2019

The largest international open innovation competition in the world comes back this fall. For the fourth year in a row, Hacking Health is the partner of the health track which gives us the title of historical partner!

Volunteers from Hacking Health chapters in Montreal, Quebec City, Toronto, and Waterloo* are ready to support you during this human and entrepreneurial adventure with the goal to have an impact on healthcare.

Join doctors, nurses, healthcare professionals, patients, entrepreneurs, investors, startups, and experts from diverse industries and become a change agent.

 

An entrepreneurial adventure for all

Whether you have an idea, identified a problem or simply want to change the world, you can join the competition. Throughout the month of October, workshops are organized in each of the participating cities to:

  1. Build teams,
  2. Identify root causes of the problem to be solved,
  3. Design the business model,
  4. Create a prototype,
  5. Learn how to pitch your project to a panel of experts.

The semi-final is held on November 2nd in each city to identify the best impact projects before the grand finale in Montreal on November 20th.

All winners!

Among all former participants, some have won prizes but all have acquired new skills, developed their network, discovered new horizons and above all … lived a tremendous human adventure. Whatever your expertise, your industry, whether you have a project idea or just want to contribute, you can make an impact.

Registrations are now open. Join us!

An incredible match. The story of “I Seek Delirium”.

Tania (nurse at the Montreal Heart Institute) and Nicolas (entrepreneur, founder of NeuroServo) did not know each other. They I Seek Delirium - Le projet gagnant du Coopérathon 2018met during the pitch & networking meetup where teams are built around each project. As Nicolas says in the video below: “it clicked immediately and we decided to work together”.The potential of their collaboration was obvious.

Winner of the health track in Canada, “I seek delirium” has been integrated within NeuroServo and continues its development with the Montreal Heart Institute. The company and the diagnostic tool presented at Cooperathon 2018 have been the subject of an article in Fierce Biotech, a reference in the health industry.

Check out the projects from previous editions in this post.

Watch this video to get an overview of the competition and projects presented in 2018

 

* Some chapters in France may also join the competition.

 

Delphine DavanLe Coopérathon Revient Cet Automne / Cooperathon Comes Back This Fall
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Dutch Hacking Health: It’s All about the Mix (Janssen BeNeLux)

Making a breakthrough in the health care sector in just three days: It seems like an almost impossible task. And yet this is exactly what Dutch Hacking Health—an event that really can accelerate innovation—aims to achieve! The fourth Dutch Hacking Health was held in the first two weeks of April, with health care hackathons organized in five cities (Amsterdam, Maastricht, Nijmegen, Rotterdam, and Utrecht). I am proud to be contributing to the event on behalf of Janssen.

Creative Solutions

A hackathon works a little like a pressure cooker. For three days, driven, multidisciplinary teams work toward finding a solution to a challenge in the health care sector. On the last day, they present the end result to a local jury. The worlds of designers, IT specialists, health care professionals, and patients come together to create a fascinating mix.

With his bright red tee-shirt, M. Erik Gerritsen, Secretary-General of the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport, is a fervent supporter of the Dutch Hacking Health ecosystem.

A hackathon starts with a specific problem. For example, how do you as a patient or a relative of a patient stay on top of what is going on during a hospital stay? Often, it can be difficult to form a complete picture based on the fragmented information you receive from nurses or doctors. Sometimes it can feel like you’re no longer in control. During Dutch Hacking Health 2018, this challenge was successfully addressed by a team at Bravis hospital. Since then, software company ChipSoft and the hospital have been working together to put the improved Mijn Zorgteam patient portal to the test. This is a result that will directly benefit patients and their relatives.

This year, Dutch Hacking Health will focus on specific themes at various locations. Participants in Nijmegen will tackle challenges relating to future-proofing the labor market in the health care sector and local health care provision. In Utrecht, personalized care is top of the agenda. Amsterdam will look at a mix of topics, including delivering the right care in the right place, as well as mental health. Rotterdam and Maastricht have opted for an open format, where participants will be able to look at challenges relating to various topics.

Janssen’s Role

Sponsors’ logos are displayed on all tee-shirts

Innovations that arise from a hackathon or start as an initiative within a hospital can often also be implemented in other hospitals. By looking at these kinds of innovations with the right partners from industry, we can generate additional power to give high-potential innovations that extra boost. Janssen is keen to play a role in this process. With our broad portfolio of innovative medicines, we see it as our responsibility to work together with hospitals, patient organizations, and, for example, tech companies to accelerate the learning process that’s involved in health care innovation and, through these partnerships, to contribute to improving the Dutch health care sector. With this goal in mind, Janssen has this year become a proud national partner of Dutch Hacking Health for the first time, alongside Deloitte, Vosko, Cisco, and the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport.

As a project manager, I will support the organization this year by helping to coordinate the local hackathons at a national level — which will be a great challenge! In the future, we also want to work with the various local organizers and national partners to create a more professional and sustainable national organization.

“With our broad portfolio of innovative medicines, we see it as our responsibility to work together with hospitals, patient organizations, and, for example, tech companies to accelerate the learning process that’s involved in health care innovation”

I know from my own experience how much positive energy there is buzzing around during health care hackathons. You work together with teammates from a wide range of backgrounds and truly learn about the people behind a specific challenge. This way of working helps you produce some truly creative and fitting solutions. At the hackathons, I met people with the same passion. Everyone puts all their effort into coming up with a solution to a challenge instead of focusing on problems. I brought this positive energy back with me when I returned to Janssen. Inspired by last year’s hackathon, I now focus even more on the person/patient in my day-to-day work.

Dutch Hacking Health 2019

Hacking Health Nijmegen organizers: Concha van Rissjel (left) and Robin Hooijer (right)

Early April is when it all begins: In Amsterdam, Maastricht, Nijmegen, Rotterdam, and Utrecht, a series of hackathons will take place over two weeks. At each event, you can see on a small scale what we need to do on a large scale to accelerate health care innovation in the Netherlands and to maintain affordability. To sum it up: It’s all about working together. If we take the time to really understand a problem and leverage each other’s strengths, I am convinced that we can find even more innovative and patient-focused solutions.

 

On our shared journey to the health care of the future, it’s all about the mix.

If you’re curious about the power of the health care hackathon, why not join in? More information about hackathons in the Netherlands can be found here. Click through to the various locations and sign up in your favorite city.

 

Original text from Sander van Nuland, Project Specialist, Janssen BeNeLux

Delphine DavanDutch Hacking Health: It’s All about the Mix (Janssen BeNeLux)
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Danina Kapetanovic appointed Executive Director of Hacking Health (PRESS RELEASE)

Hacking Health Logo

PRESS RELEASE // COMMUNIQUE DE PRESSE

For immediate release

 

DANINA KAPETANOVIC APPOINTED
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF HACKING HEALTH

Montreal, May 22, 2019 – Hacking Health Foundation announced today that its Board had appointed Ms. Danina Kapetanovic as the new Executive Director. This leadership appointment is effective immediately and follows the decision from Ms. Isabelle Vézina to step down as Executive Director of the organization to pursue personal endeavors. Ms. Vézina succeeded Luc Sirois, co-founder of Hacking Health, and successfully structured the not-for-profit organization while developing high-impact partnerships for the movement and strengthening the global core team.

“We regret Isabelle’s departure as the Executive Director but are happy to welcome her to the Board where she will continue to contribute to the movement’s growth. We are delighted to welcome Danina to Hacking Health and believe that her experience with UN agencies will be instrumental in the next phase of development of our organization,” says Luc Sirois. The Board was impressed by Ms. Kapetanovic’s experience – both on a professional and personal level – and her leadership capabilities.

“Ms. Kapetanovic brings tremendous international experience solving impactful global health challenges,” says Hadi Salah, Hacking Health co-founder and member of the Board. “She’s a collaborator at heart, bringing together essential stakeholders, including governments, NGOs, global foundations, charities, and innovators to solve these challenges.”

Ms. Kapetanovic has an impressive track record of accomplishment at United Nations agencies in various countries. She speaks four languages, and her last experience was Executive Manager, Public Partnership Division, with UNICEF in New York City (USA) where she had a profound impact during her tenure.

The Board and the Global Team feel fortunate to have someone of Ms. Kapetanovic’s caliber and experience step up to lead Hacking Health.  “We believe that Ms. Kapetanovic will continue to rally our leaders from across the world and attract new partners to join their forces and bring more innovation to healthcare,” concluded Ms. Vézina.

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About Hacking Health

Created in 2012 and headquartered in Montreal, Hacking Health is a not-for-profit organization that fosters innovation in healthcare. All around the world, Hacking Health’s volunteers create ecosystems of innovation and have organized +140 hackathons in 63 cities (17 countries, five continents). These events bring together doctors, nurses, administrative staff of healthcare institutions, patients, designers, developers, engineers, and entrepreneurs to co-create concrete solutions to real healthcare issues. Hacking Health counts 39 vibrant chapters with +600 volunteers who want to have an impact on healthcare.

Contact information:

Delphine Davan
Head of Communications
Hacking Health
Telephone: 418 931-5778
delphine.davan@hackinghealth.ca

 

Delphine DavanDanina Kapetanovic appointed Executive Director of Hacking Health (PRESS RELEASE)
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Our Volunteers Break Silos And Borders

Hacking Health Windsor-Detroit is the first cross-border Hacking Health chapter in the world. It brings together two cities, which comprise a world-class automotive cluster that is reinventing itself as a global leader in health and mobility.

The 100-year-old Ambassador Bridge is iconic of this chapter’s determination to reach across divides and bring creative people together from the tech, health and automotive sectors to collaborate on innovative solutions to healthcare challenges on both sides of the Detroit River.

 

This chapter fosters innovation across the Canadian-US border

Now entering its fifth year – Hacking Health Windsor-Detroit has drawn over 1,000 participants, connected over 60 partner organizations, sparked a half-dozen start-up companies (CarePRN is one of them) and inspired a cross-border MedHealth Summit that annually matches health start-ups with investors .

There is also Kaitlyn Sheehan—a Registered Nurse— who had an idea for a mobile app that could improve health care on both sides of the Detroit-Windsor border. Read her fabulous story here and how she won a hackathon top award for mobile app design in this previous post.

Gathering automotive & healthcare sectors in the same place?

From left to right: Deborah Livneh, Zain Ismail and Yvonne Pilon, members of the HHWD chapter

After the lights dimmed on a successful MedHealth Summit in downtown Detroit in early 2018, one that featured an electric keynote by celebrated neuropathologist Dr. Bennet Omalu featured in the movie Concussion, the organizers gathered in a boardroom at the Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy at Wayne State University.  Many of those gathered had been founders and leaders from Hacking Health Windsor-Detroit – which provided the spark for the Medhealth Summit.

In part, the organizers wanted to debrief on such a successful meeting and chart potential destinations for Medhealth in 2019.  This meeting raised the potential of bringing talent from the automotive and health-care sectors together.

A year later, we are happy to report that Hacking Health Windsor-Detroit IV will explore the theme of mobility in the fall. The potential for creative engineers and programmers from General Motors and Google and Lyft to talk healthcare is exciting.

 

 

In the video below, Robert C. Brooks, III – a hackathon participant, talks about what the automotive industry can bring to healthcare:

Our Movement Builds Ecosystems of Innovation

At the Medhealth Summit debrief,  Stephen Konya, a Senior Innovation Strategist from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT with the United States Department of Health and Human Services, was invited to lead a discussion. He is exploring the growing network of health-related cluster initiatives across the United States – a cluster of clusters – and the opportunity to integrate the MedHealth Summit.

And that is the genius of Hacking Health – connecting thought leaders from health and tech regionally, opening up promising collaboration between previously sequestered sectors and looking beyond the horizon to connect creative problem solvers globally. That’s Hacking Health’s approach.

 

That’s the magic of a grass-roots movement

Want to support our movement? Join/build your local chapter or make a donation!

 

Original text from Dr. Irek Kusmierczyk,

City Councillor for Ward 7 in the City of Windsor

Director of Partnerships at WEtech Alliance

Leader of the Hacking Health Windsor-Detroit Chapter

LinkedInTwitterWeb

 

Delphine DavanOur Volunteers Break Silos And Borders
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Hacking Health, Innovation Beyond Hackathons

Hacking Health is a not-for-profit organization created in Montreal in 2012 with head office at the CHUM Hospital. We have developed 12 entities across Canada (from Vancouver to St-John’s) and are present in 50+ cities around the world. All these entities (called chapters) are built by multidisciplinary teams of volunteers who want to bring innovation to healthcare and integrate new technologies for the benefit of patients.

All over the world, our 600+ volunteers organize high energy, collaborative competitions such as health hackathons. During these events, we pair healthcare professionals with patients, technologists, designers, entrepreneurs and other experts to build concrete solutions to healthcare challenges – see all future and past events here.

Listen to the interview of Annie Lamontagne, Special Projects Advisor and former Head of Global Growth at Hacking Health.

Listen to the podcast on iTunes, Podbean, Stitcher or Youtube.

From fun short events to transformative innovation hubs

The cornerstone of Hacking Health’s global success is the community built in each location. Chapters organize not only one-time weekend hackathons but also meetups and workshops which work as a regular forum for ideation, knowledge exchange, and networking opportunity.

Not each idea born during a hackathon turns into a company, nor do all participants have entrepreneurial aspirations, but people always make new connections and acquire new knowledge,” says Annie.

Hospitals, like CHUM, partner with Hacking Health with the desire to give medical professionals a different perspective on their problems with the opportunity of building tomorrow’s healthcare. Read the press release about our collaboration with CHUM here.

Health innovation management

As Annie likes to emphasize in the interview, health innovation management is an emerging and evolving science, and even when hospitals are open to new ideas, they might struggle in implementing them into their practice.

“At one time a speech therapist designed a solution for her clinical practice. She did not want to start a company but wanted to see her idea used in her everyday work. Before that was possible, she hit a lot of barriers inside the institution and had to put a lot of effort in justifying the legal requirements, get management approval, etc., to be able to use the solution,” says Annie Lamontagne.

Another successful hackathon participant was Dr. Denis Vincent, an Edmonton-based physician, who suffered a loss of a patient due to a misplaced fax document. He started looking for a solution to prevent such things from ever happening again. At the Hacking Health Edmonton hackathon in 2013, Dr. Vincent created ezReferral, a cloud-based, secure medical referral management tool that keeps all parties on the same page: family doctor, specialist, and patient.

Read other success stories: CarePRN, IUGO Care, EyeWare, Haleo, etc. Just to name a few.

Hacking health uses different approaches for attracting participants from the clinical practice to join the events. One of them is to turn to IT departments inside healthcare institutions to identify the healthcare workers who complain the most. Hacking health sees them as champions — they are those who refuse to accept the status quo and wish to see changes. They usually become the most influential ambassadors of innovations within institutions.

One of the aspects Annie is passionate about is rethinking the inclusion of older healthcare specialists in the innovation processes. “These are people with tremendous knowledge and experience, still wish to be active, and we need to value their participation.”

Some questions addressed during the interview:

  • How are hackathons in healthcare evolving over the years?
  • Hacking Health is active in 17 countries. What can different chapters learn from each other?
  • How to organize a hackathon?
  • How to motivate participants to join hackathons?
  • How do Hacking health events differ from other digital health events and how do they attract participants?
  • How do hackathons in hospitals look like?
  • What follows hackathons in clinical settings? Do hospitals adopt change management solutions?

 

Post in collaboration with Tjaša Zajc, author of Faces of Digital Health

Delphine DavanHacking Health, Innovation Beyond Hackathons
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HACKING HEALTH & CHUM – HEALTHCARE INNOVATION FROM THE INSIDE (PRESS RELEASE)

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PRESS RELEASE
For immediate release

HACKING HEALTH & CHUM
HEALTHCARE INNOVATION FROM THE INSIDE

Montreal, February 19, 2019 – The University Hospital of Montreal (CHUM) welcomes Hacking Health headquarters into its Research Center. This confirms a mutual desire to collaborate and foster innovation. For Hacking Health, the non-profit organization with more than 50 chapters around the world, this is a first. Its core team is now immersed in a healthcare environment and close to medical teams and patients.

“Hacking Health offers an innovative approach focused on co-creation and ideas sharing which allows our teams to both speed up and go further while keeping in mind the benefit for our patients. We believe that collective intelligence enables a proper implementation of innovations, particularly those related to artificial intelligence, in healthcare,” said Nathalie Beaulieu, Director of Education and Academy at the CHUM.

Teams from CHUM want to encourage innovation with Hacking Health. Hackathons or cafe discussions will connect medical teams with partners and experts from diverse sectors. This partnership allows the co-construction of innovative projects and the co-facilitation of educative workshops with the strength of multidisciplinary creativity.

Isabelle Vézina, General Manager at Hacking Health, is enthusiastic about this partnership. “We could not have a better location for our headquarters. Hacking Health belongs to the health ecosystem. We want to transform institutions by accelerating the generation and adoption of innovations. Collaborating hand in hand with a university hospital helps to generate impact more quickly.”

This is a promising collaboration. The CHUM and Hacking Health has already held workshops to outline the School of Artificial Intelligence in Health (EIAS). This school is dedicated to future healthcare professionals, students, Quebec residents and patients.

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About the University Hospital of Montreal (CHUM)

The University Hospital of Montreal is an innovative hospital serving patients. It offers the best care, specialized and highly specialized, to patients and all Quebec residents. Thanks to its unique expertise and innovations, it improves the health of the adult and senior population. As the hospital center of the University of Montreal, the CHUM has a vocation of care, research, teaching, health promotion as well as evaluation of technologies and intervention mode in healthcare, with the goal to continually improve the quality of care and the health of the population. Since Fall 2017, patients and their loved ones have had a renewed hospital experience at CHUM’s new facilities. chumontreal.qc.ca.

About Hacking Health

Since 2012, Hacking Health catalyzes the co-creation of concrete solutions to real healthcare issues. All around the world, Hacking Health gathers communities. Our volunteers organize events such as hackathons that bring together doctors, nurses, administrative staff of healthcare institutions. They collaborate with entrepreneurs, designers, developers and patients to develop innovative solutions. Hacking Health initiated more than 1,500 innovative projects and is a not-for-profit organization with headquarters in Montreal. The movement counts 53 chapters in 17 countries on five continents with more than 600 volunteers who want to have a concrete impact on healthcare.

More information:

Isabelle Lavigne
Director of Communications and Access to Information.
Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CHUM)
Telephone: 514 890-8000, poste 15293
isabelle.lavigne.chum@ssss.gouv.qc.ca

Delphine Davan
Head of Communications
Hacking Health
Telephone: 418 931-5778
delphine.davan@hackinghealth.ca

Valérie DoréHACKING HEALTH & CHUM – HEALTHCARE INNOVATION FROM THE INSIDE (PRESS RELEASE)
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