As technology continues to advance and more people have access to mobile technology and the Internet, health care must keep up with advances not only in medicine, but also in patient communication and engagement. At NewYork-Presbyterian, we are doing just that with our Innovation Center team and initiatives.
In 2014, the hospital made a strategic decision to harness its strengths and focus its innovative efforts, launching the Innovation Center. The Innovation Center has collaborated with many departments within the hospital and with external organizations in order to bring together impactful ideas from our vast network and turn them into reality.
We've implemented numerous enhancements since our launch, which use technology to improve the patient experience. We designated the William Randolph Hearst Burn Center as our first iUnit last year, where we asked the staff for their ideas for making technology work for them. Since then, we have outfitted the Burn Unit with better phones, better tablets and more advanced communications tools to be the most cutting-edge unit in our hospital -- and the model for innovating our units as we move forward.
Some tools we have in place include auto texting that provides patients' family members with real time notifications on their loved ones' status following surgery. We also launched a project with 500 patient tablets that provides patients with Internet access and the opportunity to see their own health information and contact their nurses right from their beds as well as educate themselves on their treatment plan. Additionally, the tablets allow doctors and caregivers to visually discuss treatment plans and educate patients and their families more easily.
One of our newest patient experience innovations is the NYP Patient Whiteboard, which integrate some of the same patient specific information as the patient tablets to create a comprehensive exchange of information between patients, families and caregivers. The screens provide real-time, digital information on the patient's care team, phone numbers, patient's pain score, fall risk and scheduled radiology tests. These whiteboards help increase transparency and comfort during a patient's stay at NewYork-Presbyterian.
We have also been collaborating with outside organizations on new ideas and perspectives from the evolving health technology ecosystem. For example, this past summer we opened our own dedicated space at Blueprint Health Accelerator, which is a mentorship driven startup accelerator program that supports entrepreneurs who are building innovative companies at the intersection of health and tech. This was the first collaboration of its kind in NYC to foster innovation and technology projects and will help bring new technologies into use at NewYork-Presbyterian.
To further our goal of engaging the local tech community, last spring we hosted our first NYC hospital hackathon, InnovateNYP, to spur excitement and creativity. The focus of the hackathon was to develop solutions to improve myNYP, our online patient portal for appointments, records and more, and make it the best online patient care experience. Developers and designers from all around the country collaborated in seventeen teams to develop working prototypes for the online portal. The three winning solutions received $85,000 in cash and prizes.
Building on the success of the hackathon, we also launched a website to make it easier for entrepreneurs to share their ideas with us. The website is also a platform for public users to follow the progress of the Innovation Center's projects and events. We want to continue to engage and learn more about how to potentially help patients at NewYork-Presbyterian from the tech community.
Which is why we are currently running a new challenge this summer. The InnovateNYP: Open Challenge, is a 10-week competition, ending this month, that has asked participants to identify, prototype and develop innovative technology solutions for patient experience and provider communications. The Open Challenge is looking for ideas on tools for patient experience personalization, patient education and patient entertainment as well as tools for collaboration dashboards; patient document grouping and patient care tracking for care providers. The Challenge is open to both the public and our employees and will award up to $25,000 in cash prizes. Judges will determine the top three winners and we will host a Demo Day with the finalists on Thursday, August 6th at The Griffis Faculty Club, 521 E 68th Street, from 4:00 to 7:00PM. Stay tuned for more details on attending Demo Day.
Do you have an innovative idea for NewYork-Presbyterian? We would love to hear your ideas or how we can work together. Send your thoughts or contact us.
Aurelia is Chief Information Officer for NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital
Peter is Associate Chief Innovation Officer for NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital