Kathryn Shaffer, EdD, wins global HackAThon

Associate professor, Kathryn Shaffer, EdD, RN, MSN, CNE, CCFP, team wins the Nurse Hack4Health: COVID19 virtual hackathon

Sponsored by SONSIEL, Microsoft and Johnson&Johnson nursing, the hackathon consisted of 30 different teams from across the globe split into five different categories. Dr. Shaffer participated on a team in the Resiliency and Self-Care category, where their goal was to develop an app to serve as an outlet for nurses to receive emotional support. Nurses experience a variety of work-related stressors that can result in compassion fatigue, Anxiety, PTSD, Burn out, and Moral Distress. The app, WellNurse, is researched based centered on a nurse’s mental health and well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.

There were six teams in the Resiliency and Self-Care category. Each team was given 2 and half days to collaborate and create their final pitch idea. On the final day, the teams were given 3 minutes to pitch their idea to a panel of judges. With over 1,000 participants, there was representation from many different areas and fields. Their team included nurses from all areas of healthcare including frontline workers, with Dr. Shaffer the only member of her group with an academic background, and a Certified Compassion Fatigue Professional. Other professional fields included business, web design and instructional technology.

Three months of mentoring were awarded to the winning groups from the sponsors, to help assist with developing the app. Dr. Shaffer says the goal of the app is to “add a feeling of community and focus on nurses” by providing a forum for users. The winning group will also appear on the Microsoft Health Geeks podcast on a later date.