Hackathon participants tackle kids’ medical care

hospital system. Doctors at UPMC Children’s have been encouraged to pursue development of medical devices and other products to reduce the lab-bench-to-patient-bedside time cycle while improving medical care.

Invitations to participate in the hackathon were sent to universities nationwide, Dr. Mazariegos said. Some teams will be organized before the event; others will form at the hackathon.

Billionaire Thomas Tull, former CEO of Burbank, Calif.-based Legendary Pictures and minority owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers, will deliver the keynote address Oct. 5, with the competition starting at 7 p.m. after his presentation.

Doctors at UPMC Children’s will serve as team mentors at the event, but also participate in development of their own ideas, Dr. Mazariegos said.

Between 12 and 15 areas of focus will be identified, including reducing the number of central blood vessel line infections, which are a costly and sometimes fatal problem.

Each hospital-acquired infection among adults, like those picked up from central lines, had a mortality rate ranging between 12 and 25 percent while adding $16,550 to treatment costs, according to a 2013 study by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services agency.

Another focus of the hackathon will be the transition of pediatric patients through the hospital, which might benefit from industrial engineering principles.

“It’s basically a city here of medicine that is used day and night and people have already figured out some of the things,” Dr. Mazariegos said. “We’d like to bring that technology to the hospital.”