International Hackathon as a Tool to Augment Education, Collaboration, and Innovation in Global Neurosurgery

Document Type

Article

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Health care providers' exposure to global surgical disparities is limited in current nursing and/or medical school curricula. For instance, global health is often associated with infectious diseases or maternal health without acknowledging the growing need for surgical care in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). We propose an international virtual hackathon based on neurosurgical patient cases in under-resourced settings as an educational tool to bring awareness to global surgical disparities and develop relationships among trainees in different countries. METHODS: Participants were recruited through email listservs, a social media campaign, and prize offerings. A 3-day virtual hackathon event was administered, which included workshops, mentorship, keynote panels, and pitch presentations to judges. Participants were presented with real patient cases and directed to solve a barrier to their care. Surveys assessed participants' backgrounds and event experience. The hackathon was executed through Zoom at Harvard Innovation Lab in Boston, MA, on March 25 to 27, 2022. Participants included medical students, with additional participants from business, engineering, or current health care workers. RESULTS: Three hundred seven applications were submitted for 100 spots. Participants included medical students, physicians, nurses, engineers, entrepreneurs, and undergraduates representing 25 countries and 82 cities. Fifty-one participants previously met a neurosurgeon, while 39 previously met a global health expert, with no difference between LMIC and high-income countries' respondents. Teams spent an average of 2.75 hours working with mentors, and 88% of postevent respondents said the event was "very" or "extremely conducive" to networking. Projects fell into 4 categories: access, language barriers, education and training, and resources. The winning team, which was interdisciplinary and international, developed an application that analyzes patient anatomy while performing physical therapy to facilitate remote care and clinical decision-making. CONCLUSION: An international virtual hackathon can be an educational tool to increase innovative ideas to address surgical disparities in LMICs and establish early collaborative relationships with medical trainees from different countries.

Medical Subject Headings

Humans; Neurosurgery (education); Global Health; Developing Countries; Neurosurgical Procedures (education); Neurosurgeons (education)

Publication Date

8-1-2024

Publication Title

Neurosurgery

E-ISSN

1524-4040

Volume

95

Issue

2

First Page

480

Last Page

486

PubMed ID

39008546

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1227/neu.0000000000002991

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