Nurse Innovation Hackathons Our Nurse Innovation hackathons provide a unique experience for nurses to flex their innovation muscles and receive the support and motivation needed to bring their ideas to life and improve human health.

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Apply Now for the 2024 NurseHack4Health Pitch-A-Thon!

Nurses are change-makers, problem-solvers and forward thinkers. Get ready to create systemic and sustainable change for a thriving workforce and healthier work environment, with the opportunity to receive up to $150,000 in grant funding to bring your ideas to life! Applications are now open!

Apply Now

Mini Hack | THInC Boston 2024

Register for a 1-day in-person Mini Hack on June 7 to collaborate with peers, apply design thinking principles and develop innovative solutions for pressing healthcare issues.

Learn More

About the 2024 Pitch-A-Thon

Take it Apart | Fix it | Build it Better

Johnson & Johnson, the Society of Nurse Scientists Innovators Entrepreneurs and Leaders (SONSIEL) and Microsoft have teamed up for the fifth year in a row to host the next NurseHack4Health virtual Pitch-A-Thon, supported by ALL IN Wellbeing First for Healthcare and the Johnson & Johnson Foundation.

The NurseHack4Health Pitch-A-Thon is free and open globally to non-profit/501c3 designation health systems, or those with a fiscal partner. Nurse-led teams should be interdisciplinary – collaborating across professions, departments and the health system maximizes creativity and innovation in problem-solving. Teams will receive coaching support throughout the process.

Applications open May 6 and are due August 2. The top entries will be invited to pitch their innovative solutions at a virtual session at 1:00 pm ET on October 15, with the opportunity to receive up to $150,000 in grant funding.

Key Dates

Applications Open

May 6, 2024
Applications Due

Aug. 2, 2024
Finalists Selected

Aug. 30, 2024
Innovation Accelerator

Sept. 5 – Oct. 11, 2024
Pitch-A-Thon Event

Oct. 15, 2024

Visit the NurseHack4Health website to find out more

Go Now

Learn About Past Pitch-A-Thons

Nurses Leading Innovation

Reimagining a Workplace Where Nurses Thrive: Meet the Pitch-A-Thon Awardees

The first-ever NurseHack4Health Pitch-A-Thon took place in October 2022. Ten nurse-led multidisciplinary health system teams took center stage to pitch their solutions for redesigning a healthcare workplace where nurses and other health care professionals can thrive.

Meet the three 2022 finalist teams here

Nurses Leading Innovation

Announcing the 2023 NurseHack4Health Pitch-A-Thon Awardee Team!

In 2023, the Pitch-A-Thon journey began in September, as more than 20 health system teams participated in the NurseHack4Health Hackathon. Over a fast-paced weekend, teams developed and pitched their ideas to catalyze a healthy work environment, and ten finalist teams were selected to pitch their ideas for the chance to receive $150,000 in grant funding.

Meet the 2023 awardee team here

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.

Why Should You Attend?

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. 

How to Prepare

What to Expect

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
Innovation Skills

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
What Makes a Good 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:

How to Tell Stories that Influence People and Inspire Action

NurseHack4Health Pitch Template

How to Win a Pitch
Open Source Innovation

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:

What is Open Source

Open Source Resources

GitHub Learning Lab
Minimum 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:

Forbes: What Is A Minimum Viable Product, And Why Do Companies Need Them?

LEANSTACK: What is a Minimum Viable Product (MVP)

CleverTap: What Is A Minimum Viable Product + Methodologies For Marketers

Read More Stories About Nurses Leading Innovation

Nurses Leading Innovation

Caregivers & Trailblazers: Four Nurse Innovators Redefining Healthcare

Johnson & Johnson has proudly championed the nursing profession for over 125 years because we know that for healthcare to work, it takes nurses. This National Nurses Month, we celebrate the innovation, expertise and tremendous impact of more than 4 million nurses across the U.S. Below, meet four inspiring nurses dedicated to transforming the health of their patients and communities, underscoring the innovation and leadership of the nursing profession.

2024-04-29T15:11:36.755Z
Nurses Leading Innovation

Celebrating the Power of Public Health Nursing

Public health nursing is a unique specialty, offering nurses the opportunity to impact population health at the bedside and beyond. In celebration of National Public Health Week, meet Dr. Oluwatosin Olateju, Assistant Professor of Nursing at Coppin State University and Co-Chair of the Maryland Commission on Public Health, whose tireless efforts demonstrate the power of nurse-led innovation and patient advocacy.

2024-04-10T18:22:25.751Z
Nurses Leading Innovation

How Nurses Can Help Combat the Climate Crisis

The effects of climate change impact human health in many ways, from changing disease patterns to increasing the risk of food insecurity. In observance of Earth Day, meet public health nurse Kasey Bellegarde, MPH, RN and physician Jonathan Perlin, MD, PhD, who share their perspective on nursing’s role in mitigating the effects of climate change and building a more sustainable and equitable future.

2024-04-10T18:22:15.291Z