Paediatric innovation in Pakistan: our experience and a call to action

Standardisation in paediatric medicine may have the unintended effect of stifling innovation. Thinking outside the box becomes even more important in low-income to middle-income countries like Pakistan, where a large paediatric population requires healthcare. In addition, there is always a lack of funds, making an innovative, low-cost and high impact solution all the more necessary. While regulation and formal research is an integral part of the process, the local synthesis of a solution must start with a creative idea. To address the dearth of avenues promoting lateral thinking relevant to biomedicine and healthcare among students and faculty, the Critical Creative Innovative Thinking forum was formed at the Aga Khan University in Karachi, Pakistan, by a group consisting of students and faculty in 2014. The primary objective of the forum was to provide an arena conducive to lateral thinking and to equip biomedical professionals with the skill set to enable and promote creativity and innovation. This paper seeks to outline those efforts and discuss their potential impact on paediatric care for resource-limited settings

Innovation in emergency medicine; a perspective from a low middle income country, Pakistan

Creativity and innovation are essential life skills in the 21st century. These skills are even more important in the healthcare sector of a resource limited country like Pakistan. The acquisition and implementation of innovation is necessary in the field of emergency medicine in Pakistan to troubleshoot challenges like rising emergency room visits while facing lack of resources. This article highlights the need of innovation in the field of emergency medicine and some of the activities that took place in our local context to bring innovation to the surface

Healthcare hackathons: Fostering medical education through innovation in a developing country: A case study from Pakistan

Background: Hackathons aim to develop solutions to preidentified problem domains and catalyse startup cultures. Recently, the teaching and learning potential of hackathons has also been documented. In this study, we make the case for utilisation of hackathons as an alternative teaching and learning tool geared towards entrepreneurship and as an opportunity for interprofessional integration.Methods: This research study followed up with participants from the third hackathon at the Aga Khan University in Karachi, Pakistan. Hack MedEd was about solutions to problems of undergraduate and postgraduate medical education with an emphasis on low-income to middle-income countries. Participant evaluation data were filled at the end of the hackathon and gathered from three focused group discussions (FGDs): immediately before and after the event, a delayed follow-up after 11 months was recorded.Results: Of 116 participants, the majority (71%) were under 30 years old, and over half were female. The evaluations provided by hackers were positive overall with a mean score of 4.37 out of 5 on a Likert Scale. During the FGDs, participants spoke positively of the process and felt that, by the end of the hackathon, they had learnt something new. In the delayed follow-up FGD, teams that had undergone incubation expressed that they had gained a critical and simple skillset that they might not have acquired otherwise.Conclusion: Hackathons business incubation programmes may be considered an alternative teaching and learning tool—especially for individuals studying or working within the healthcare discipline within low-resource settings

Innovation Skills Assessment and Variation among Healthcare Employees in the Emergency Department: A Cross-sectional Study

Aim: Innovation is vital in emergency departments (EDs), advancing diagnostics, triage, communication, and personalized treatment to save lives and improve patient outcomes. This study aims to assess the self-perceived innovation capacities of employees in the ED of a major quaternary care hospital in Karachi, Pakistan, to establish a baseline and identify areas for improvement. Materials and Methods: This study employed a descriptive cross-sectional design to assess the innovation skills of employees in the Department of Emergency Medicine and the 24/7 Emergency and Acute Care Service Line at the Aga Khan University Hospital in Karachi, Pakistan. The sample size of 130 employees was determined using non-probability purposive sampling. The study used the Innovation Skills Assessment, a close-ended structured questionnaire, to measure employees’ self-perceived strengths and weaknesses in the four pillars of innovation skills. Descriptive statistics and visualizations were used for data analysis. Ethical approval and informed consent were obtained beforehand. Results: The study showed that employees generally had a positive self-assessment of their innovation skills. There were differences between genders, with males scoring slightly higher. Young employees did not perceive themselves as more innovative, whereas older employees scored lower. Postgraduates and nurses self-assessed higher innovation capacities. Overall, employees showed strengths in idea generation and relationship building but had room for improvement in risk-taking and entrepreneurship. Conclusion: This study emphasizes the importance of fostering innovation in EDs in low-resource settings to improve patient outcomes. These findings can inform targeted interventions to enhance innovation skills and promote a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in EDs globally, and in healthcare organizations overall. Further research is needed to explore the relationship between self-assessed and actual innovation performance