Health Hackathon

Health Hackathon

Congratulations to PCH Diabetes who put up a challenge that was selected for the recent WA Health Hackathon Week.

A team of data science specialists and students was assigned to take on the challenge, which focused on the empowerment of patients through providing them with a range of tools to help them effectively self-manage their diabetes.

Specifically, the project was to design a secure, easy-to-use patient portal that can be accessed on a mobile device and would allow patients/carers to:

• View their own clinical data (recent and historical) – e.g., HbA1c, height/weight/BMI, blood pressure, CGM data.
• Plot measures against target values for age.
• View upcoming appointment dates for the calendar year.
• View and update contact details; GP details; other diagnoses; medications; family history; research participation.
• Prompt patients/carers who have consented to be contacted for future research about studies that they are eligible for.
• Directly communicate with their clinic team.
• Be alerted about screening tests that are due/overdue.
• Intuitively access appropriate educational resources and individualised learning pathways.
• Access the newsletter feed and social media channels.

The Hackathon team worked closely with PCH clinical staff to understand the requirements, the opportunities and the challenges of delivering a diabetes patient portal.

The team of four data science specialists and students designed and developed a working prototype that effectively demonstrated the conceptual elements of their solution. The prototype included an intuitive and user-friendly interface that could be further developed to provide users with an individualised experience based on their profile and preferences.

Project Officer, Helen Clapin, said the hackathon week started the ball rolling on an exciting development project and she hoped funding could be secured to continue the work.

“The prototype will allow us to demonstrate the concept of a patient portal and to generate discussion about its potential. We look forward to working closely with families to fully understand what they would like to see included and how they would like a patient portal to work.”