MEDFAR Ideathon
What is MEDFAR Ideathon?
The MEDFAR Ideathon is an activity organized jointly by MEDFAR and the First Line in Health team in conjunction with the event.
The MEDFAR Ideathon’s mission is to bring together different front-line healthcare stakeholders to reflect on their challenges and give them the opportunity to formulate innovative technological solutions. These ideas are then shared with the community to influence Quebec’s technology providers to align their roadmaps and tackle the challenges identified as the most important by the first line stakeholders themselves.
How it works
The activity takes place over two days, including a first full day of brainstorming and a second half-day focused on preparing a presentation to a “Shark Thank” like audience.
Multidisciplinary teams of six participants (doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, clinic administrators, technology specialists, coordinators) are accompanied by MEDFAR team members who act as moderators and resource persons throughout the activity.
Each team is assigned a theme and then chooses the problem it wishes to tackle, while respecting the assigned theme.
During the presentation, each team has five minutes to present its idea, followed by three minutes of questions from a panel of judges evaluating the presentations. After the five presentations, the jury selects the team with the most promising solution as the winner, according to a pre-established scale.
In recognition of its members’ efforts, this team is awarded the Idéathon MEDFAR trophy for the best innovative first line healthcare solution.
MEDFAR Ideathon 2023
Participants, grouped into multidisciplinary teams of six members, were assigned one of the three themes for the 2023 edition:
- patient and caregiver engagement,
- innovative approaches for administrative teams,
- systems interoperability and law 25.
The solutions presented aim to improve patient engagement, optimize the work of administrative teams, promote system interoperability, and meet patients’ needs in a personalized way. These solutions are accompanied by recommendations such as phased development, public-private partnerships, the use of multiple communication channels, and the creation of unique patient identifiers.
The winning team is the one that proposes the most promising solution, according to the pre-established evaluation grid.
The Winning Team
For the 2023 edition, the winning team is Team 3 with its “Pas à Pas” solution. This solution offers a mobile application enabling patients and their caregivers to collaborate with healthcare professionals in managing their care path. The application features an interactive care plan, reminders, and the ability to share health information.
Members of the winning team:
- Dr Guy Drouin, Doctor and clinic manager
- Dre Amélie Fiset, Family doctor
- Mme Fatima-Zohra Haloui, Chief of service
- Mme Annie Geoffrion, Clinical nurse and manager
- Dre Esmeralda Lopez, Family doctor
- Mme Véronique Côté, Continuous quality improvement agent
- Mme Alice Janda, Moderator
- M. Simon Twigg, Moderator
