- Nursing
- Innovation
- Hackathons
Nurse innovation hackathons
Our nurse innovation programming provides unique experiences for nurses to flex their innovation muscles and receive the support and motivation needed to bring their ideas to life and improve human health.
2025 NurseHack4Health Pitch-A-Thon
Congratulations to the nurse-led teams from Blythedale Children’s Hospital, the Nephrohaven Foundation, and InspiroSense Innovations, the 2025 NurseHack4Health Pitch-A-Thon awardees! With support from Johnson & Johnson and Johnson & Johnson Foundation, this year’s awardees will receive up to $385,000 across three funding tracks to bring their innovative solutions to life. Stay tuned for future NurseHack4Health events!
Why should you attend future NurseHack4Health events?
Through our programming, nurses learn pragmatic ways to redefine complex healthcare issues, foster creative problem solving, prototype innovative solutions through human-AI collaboration, and integrate design methods into nursing practice and to develop a healthcare environment where nurses and patients thrive.
Ready to start your innovation journey? You can receive up to 2 continuing education credits through the NurseHack4Health Innovation Academy! This three-session, asynchronous learning program offers workshops to power-up your innovation skills through design thinking, creating the perfect pitch, and AI solutions! Learn more and sign up now.
Stay tuned for future NurseHack4Health event announcements coming soon!
Ready to start your innovation journey? You can receive up to 2 continuing education credits through the NurseHack4Health Innovation Academy! This three-session, asynchronous learning program offers workshops to power-up your innovation skills through design thinking, creating the perfect pitch, and AI solutions! Learn more and sign up now.
Stay tuned for future NurseHack4Health event announcements coming soon!
What is NurseHack4Health?
NurseHack4Health is a community of nurses, healthcare professionals, developers, engineers, IT experts and other innovators focused on ideating and collaborating to address today’s most pressing healthcare challenges.
Through specialized programming, NurseHack4Health empowers participants with the skills and mindset needed to proactively address the dynamic challenges of healthcare. Our community began in 2019 with nurse Hackathons, weekend-long live and virtual events where individual nurses and teams envision and build solutions to real-world challenges.
Through specialized programming, NurseHack4Health empowers participants with the skills and mindset needed to proactively address the dynamic challenges of healthcare. Our community began in 2019 with nurse Hackathons, weekend-long live and virtual events where individual nurses and teams envision and build solutions to real-world challenges.
Featured Hack4Health news
Accelerating the next wave of nurse innovation at NurseHack4Health
Growing from a single hackathon to a global platform for nurse-led innovation, NurseHack4Health has been empowering nursing teams to design bold, scalable solutions for five years. This year’s Pitch-A-Thon showcases the breadth of nursing ingenuity, from AI-driven maternal health tools and sensory-based care innovations to solar-powered dialysis and digital workforce solutions, demonstrating how nurses everywhere are transforming healthcare.
Meet the 2024 NH4H awardees: Two nurse-led innovations transforming care and empowering the profession
In an inspiring display of nursing innovation, the nurse-led teams from the Ghanaian-Diaspora Nursing Alliance and Seattle Children’s Hospital have together been awarded a combined $185,500 in grant funding through the third annual NurseHack4Health Pitch-A-Thon. Meet the two teams here.
How to prepare for a nurse hackathon
What to expect at a hackathon?
Hackathons champion nurse-led innovation by bringing nurses together with people from different professions, in-person or virtually, to “hack” real solutions to health problems in a supportive team setting with peers and mentors. Participants don’t need to come with an idea – just be ready to join a team, examine the problem and dive in to develop a solution. By the end of the hackathon, the goal is for teams to have minimum viable products (MVPs) that can be fast-tracked for further development and implementation in a healthcare setting.
Attending a hackathon is a great way to bond, brainstorm, develop and pitch healthcare solutions that will forever change the way you think about a problem, your perceived value and impact, and your vision for your future in nursing and healthcare!
Watch Our NurseHack4Health May 2020 Video
Attending a hackathon is a great way to bond, brainstorm, develop and pitch healthcare solutions that will forever change the way you think about a problem, your perceived value and impact, and your vision for your future in nursing and healthcare!
Watch Our NurseHack4Health May 2020 Video
What does it take to make the most of a hackathon experience?
Understanding fundamental innovation skills—such as problem solving, risk-taking, collaboration and strategic planning—can help you make the most of your time participating in a hackathon.
Even when you develop a valuable idea, sometimes figuring out what to do next can feel overwhelming.
Get started today and explore how to unlock your potential to spark innovative health solutions and improve patient care. Be sure to check out the section on Design Thinking for Health – a must-read before any hackathon! Learn more:
Skills Nurse Innovators Should Develop and Grow
Even when you develop a valuable idea, sometimes figuring out what to do next can feel overwhelming.
Get started today and explore how to unlock your potential to spark innovative health solutions and improve patient care. Be sure to check out the section on Design Thinking for Health – a must-read before any hackathon! Learn more:
Skills Nurse Innovators Should Develop and Grow
What makes a good hackathon pitch?
Pitching your idea to a panel of judges is a critical part of the hackathon process. The judges are often well-respected industry experts who will examine how well your idea meets hackathon criteria, such as its viability or impact on human health.
Each team typically has three to five minutes to present to the judges and answer questions. Assembling a rock star team and developing a valuable idea are critical; however, sometimes teams fall short in making a compelling pitch.
Learn more with these helpful resources:
Each team typically has three to five minutes to present to the judges and answer questions. Assembling a rock star team and developing a valuable idea are critical; however, sometimes teams fall short in making a compelling pitch.
Learn more with these helpful resources:
What is open source?
Hackathons can have different goals, such as launching a start-up business or generating ideas for the open market to adopt. As a participant, it’s important to understand your responsibilities as well as the desired hackathon output.
“Open source” means that no one legally owns or has intellectual property associated with the ideas. People come together to hack for social good and ideas are publicly available to any individual or organization to quickly use or adapt to help solve problems. For NurseHack4Health, participants are asked to post their ideas on GitHub, a collaborative hosting platform where hackers can iterate collectively.
Learn more with these helpful resources:
“Open source” means that no one legally owns or has intellectual property associated with the ideas. People come together to hack for social good and ideas are publicly available to any individual or organization to quickly use or adapt to help solve problems. For NurseHack4Health, participants are asked to post their ideas on GitHub, a collaborative hosting platform where hackers can iterate collectively.
Learn more with these helpful resources:
What is the meaning of minimal viable product?
The goal of many healthcare hackathons is for teams to develop a Minimum Viable Product (MVP). A minimum viable product has just enough core features for the solution to be demonstrated or used. Developers then typically deploy the product to potential customers or early adopters who are more likely to give feedback and be able to grasp a product vision from an early prototype. The advantage of developing an MVP is to quickly get a working solution for a pressing problem into the healthcare setting.
Learn more with these helpful resources:
Learn more with these helpful resources:
Related reading
Get inspired with these stories of nursese leading innovation and changing healthcare in their communities.
Three nursing teams redesigning the future of care
Meet the three awardee teams receiving a combined $385,000 supported by Johnson & Johnson Foundation to advance solutions that are deeply rooted in lived experience and engineered for real-world impact.
Empowering nurse practitioners to launch community-based practices
A groundbreaking hybrid program from Duke Health and Johnson & Johnson is equipping nurse practitioners (NPs) with leadership and business acumen tools to design and launch NP-run primary care and behavioral health enterprises in limited-resource settings. Learn how 20 NPs are expanding access, advancing equity, and empowering community-driven care.
Scaling what works: How Ascension builds systemwide innovation from the bedside up
In a novel and impactful model, Ascension is transforming healthcare innovation by pairing nurse operators with practice-based nurse scientists. This partnership blends operational expertise with scientific rigor, turning frontline insights into scalable, evidence-based solutions. From reducing falls in emergency departments to improving retention and safety, the approach delivers measurable impact and empowers nurses to lead change.