Boston Children's first Innovators' Showcase offers impressive array of solutions

BOSTON—Boston Children’s Hospital hosted its first Innovators’ Showcase on Friday, April 4, during which innovators shared their ideas and efforts to address a wide range of medical issues.

The event gave innovators a chance to share their work with the community, said Naomi Fried, PhD, the hospital’s chief innovation officer. Most don’t know each other so it also was designed to give the innovators the opportunity to meet and potentially collaborate.

The 35 projects showcased at the event represent just a fraction of innovations in the works at the hospital, Fried said. “It’s really the tip of the iceberg—there are three or four times as many projects going on. We’re so proud and delighted with the culture we’ve been able to build.”

The breadth of projects was impressive with everything from simple devices to sophisticated imaging applications.

One was C@H--Children’s at Home, led by Michael Rich, MD, MPH, director of the Center on Media and Child Health. The app is a closed, dedicated social media outlet primarily for kids with disfiguring conditions who “desperately want to reach out but don’t want to be judged.” All submissions come to a safe server and are moderated by a physician. The team pulls out the most relevant information from longer submissions but users can access the entire post as well. Users “have mastery of this experience and that’s hugely therapeutic,” said Rich. Serving as a crowdsourcing tool for solving problems, the tool lets users “learn and gain from each other.”

Another project involves applying Google Glass to surgeons’ workflow. Using voice commands, surgeons can call up patient information such as lab reports, imaging or demographics. The tool lets surgeons access the information on a computer screen hands-free which helps enhance their workflow and increase patient safety, said Gajen Sunthara, principal software architect of Children’s innovation acceleration program, who is developing the project for his dissertation. He said he expects to get the tool in use within the next 6 months.

Iciss Health—integrated clinical information sharing system—is a web-based platform that helps healthcare providers remotely monitor patients’ health status between visits. The project has been successful because providers were spending up to 20 minutes just collecting information, said Eric W. Fleegler, MD, MPH, director of the project and attending in the division of emergency medicine. With iciss Health, they can spend a few minutes confirming information and conduct a 45-minute visit in 30 minutes. Before iciss, patients or their parents were receiving paper questionnaires and either not completing them or not completing them correctly. Now, they get an electronic link. “Providers can get a good measure of what’s going on between visits,” said Aaron Pikcilingis, software developer.

Fleegler and Pikcilingis also are working on HelpSteps.com which helps patients with follow-up appointments and recommendations. There is little research available on social services follow-up, said Pikcilingis, so there is no baseline rate on which to measure. But, Fleegler said, at best, patients follow through on only 40 to 50 percent of medical referrals. The website uses an algorithm to let users indicate where and which services they want. It can also make recommendations for drugstores, gyms and other pertinent facilities.

RAGE-Control is an active biofeedback videogame designed to build emotional strength, said Jason Kahn, PhD, research associate in Harvard Medical School’s department of psychiatry. At least 9 million U.S. children need clinical levels of support to control their emptions. Use of this tool can help kids learn emotional regulation, he said. Five sessions on five consecutive days were found to have results on par with traditional clinical intervention. Originally intended primarily for children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, Kahn said anger and aggression cuts across several diagnoses. Kahn is working on a paper about the reduced stress at home and decrease in symptoms as a result of the emotional regulation tools packaged in the form of this videogame.

Perhaps the simplest innovation on display was the thermoregulation head cap for infant cardiopulmonary bypass surgery patients. The lightweight fabric and mylar wrap helps warm up babies after surgery so they can be removed from the bypass machine. Putting a hat on the baby caused too much movement, affecting breathing tubes and other interventions, said Karen Sakakeeny, RN. Nurses lay out the wrap prior to surgery and then can wrap one, two or all three flaps ojn the baby's head depending on the amount of heat needed. Taking inspiration from marathon runners who use mylar blankets after their races, she applied for an innovation grant to further the invention. She said the surgeons are thrilled with the head wrap plus it’s cheap and easy to store.

Other innovations include imaging biomarker for concussion, robotic implant for treatment of long-gap esophageal atresia, a paper-based fingerstick liver function test and drug-eluting contact lenses. Boston Children’s Hospital is sure to be the source of a variety of impressive clinical innovations for years to come.