The Collaborathon at the CCIO Summer School

One HealthTech
Jul 27, 2017 · 5 min read

by Michael Barry
Emergency Medicine Doctor | Clinician Software Developer

One HealthTech at the Digital Health Summer School ©Digital Health

Hackathon, makeathon, collaborathon — what’s with all the -athons?!

More and more people in healthcare are learning about hackathons — though I still get the odd confused look and the inevitable question about why we are “hacking” into something (hackathons use the word hack in the sense of trying to solve a problem — hacking together a solution).

Whatever you call them, the premise of these events is bringing people together to solve problems. Subject specialists, coders, business specialists and users: all get together in a room and have an opportunity to get creative.

I’ve been involved in a few hackathons (since January I’ve been to 4 — see here for the Edinburgh Future Health Product Forge and here for the Welsh Health Hack). Usually they involve building a technical solution — e.g. an app — for a defined problem. This was my first collaborathon and it was different in that we didn’t need to code an app — we only needed to develop an idea.

The One HealthTech team and the Summer School participants.

Furthermore, a plethora of enthusiastic tech providers had brought along various toys for us to play with, and incorporate into our solutions.

So what were the problems? You can view them in the picture below — there were a range of problems from a variety of perspectives including patients, a nurse and a GP.

After going through the problems, we sorted ourselves into groups depending on the problem that resonated with us most (or the techie toy we wanted to play with most *cough* HoloLens *cough*!) and started brainstorming.

My group worked on Nina’s story — Nina is a nurse working in a busy Emergency Department (A&E), and gets frustrated by students using the department for routine problems because they haven’t registered with a GP. As a junior doctor in Emergency Medicine, I could really relate to this one! We had two hours to come up with a solution and create a winning pitch.

Each group had two mentors — one of the awesome One HealthTech team and one of the suppliers. Our group worked with Michelle Kearns from One HealthTech Ireland, and the EMIS team. Following on from the obligatory ever-awkward group ice-breaker we carried out 2 sprints to refine the problem, pick our favourite solution and write it up as a business model canvas.

Our solution was an application that 1) allows automatic registration to a GP when registering with University services, 2) uses machine learning and GPS data to track when you might be unwell and offer advice about appropriate health services and 3) an online consultation portal.

By 16:20 it was time for the pitches — ours featured some professional level acting, with a special mention due for Melissa Andison, an Occupational Therapist and Health Tech Leader — and in the end we clinched the win.

Our prize was first shot at the rockaoke (karaoke but with a live band) later that night after the fabulous dinner reception, and our star member received a Samsung Galaxy S8 kindly donated by Samsung.

Serious lungs!

Thoughts

This collaborathon approach to solving problems is fantastic, and I think it is probably underused in the NHS. I liked that there was no pressure to create a technical solution — whilst I love an opportunity to get stuck into some code, sometimes the need to create a technical solution quickly can prevent a deep exploration and understanding of the problem you are trying to solve and defining who it is a problem for. Not having to code supports inclusivity and really helps engage a wider range of participants (those weary of the real techie stuff!).

On that note, I felt this was a great way to approach a problem from a human centred design point of view — something that historically has been lacking in NHS services — both patient and clinician facing.

It was a great opportunity to get to know people and their way of working. If I had one grudge, I felt the groups were perhaps a little too big, naturally resulting in some people taking a back seat or not getting involved in the problem solving — in previous hackathons I’ve attended, I’ve felt a group of about 4–5 is right to make sure everyone is heard and contributing.

Conclusion

If you are a health leader wrestling with difficult problems, or you just want an opportunity to explore change, or perhaps you’re looking for a creative way to get your team to connect with each other and engage in something worthwhile, I would highly recommend getting together in a collaborathon environment. The session really did prove that just one afternoon of teamwork can be enough to inspire change.

Thanks to Digital Health for arranging a fantastic joint CCIO/CNIO/CIO Summer School and to One HealthTech and the tech suppliers for putting together a great afternoon. All photographs are ©Digital Health.

Originally published at https://www.linkedin.com on July 27, 2017.

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