By: Ken Dion, Sydnee Logan & Patricia M. Davidson
What is a hackathon?
A hackathon is a hosted event where people from a range of different backgrounds collaborate to “hack,” or figure out a real solution to a specific problem in a condensed time frame—and a competitive environment. It’s the future of innovation.
Leverage your technical expertise and engage domain specific knowledge in a period of intense brainstorming and rapid ideation. The competitive environment keeps you focused and on task, but also promotes connectivity, helps you establish relationships, and may even help you build new skills.
Hackathons, health care & nursing
Nurse insights are valuable. Thanks to an incredibly fast-paced work environment, nurses are a naturally quick-thinking group that see problems and apply innovation in real time every day. And nurses are no stranger to teamwork—which is critical to carry an idea through the pipeline to product and then to implementation.
Hackathons bring together people of all perspectives: technical experts, domain specific experts (nurses, that’s you!), and end-users. And they’re the place to engage with programmers, software developers, and sometimes even investors.
Where we will be hacking next
Join the hackathon if you’re attending the Sigma Nursing International Research Congress next week! Right now, consider what’s been bugging you. Is there a better way in clinical practice? What about in nursing education? At the hackathon you’ll be assigned a team and a topic; you’ll have three hours to identify your problem, design your solution, and pitch your idea to a panel.
Sigma is the honor society of nursing, so your team will be made up of the best and brightest. The winning team gets more time to develop their idea with innovation experts at Johns Hopkins.
Keep in mind:
- Team work: you are the best and brightest, each with unique insights. Mutual respect builds a strong team, and a strong team builds a solid plan!
- The Sigma Hackathon makes no claim on your project, but it’s up to you and your team to protect your intellectual property.
- Respect your competitors and maintain the integrity of the competition. Hackathons can be intensely stimulating—don’t get lost in the fun!
Can’t make it to Sigma? Join Johns Hopkins for MedHacks, September 27-29, 2019
This September Johns Hopkins University & Medicine are sponsoring MedHacks, a 36-hour medical hackathon and design competition for experts and health science students to take on some of today’s most impactful problems.
Any student (undergraduate or graduate level) anywhere can apply, and working professionals can join as participants or mentors.
Learn more and apply today https://medhacks.io/
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