From Classroom to Community: A Hackathon Approach to Interprofessional Learning

In a foundation interprofessional education course, around 275 learners from nursing, pharmacy, medicine, and social work formed 36 teams for twelve three-hour experiential learning sessions over the fall and spring terms. The course begins with a kick-off session that primes learners for teamwork and collaboration. The session employs a community hackathon, where student leaders from a local student-run healthcare clinic present operational challenges. The 36 interprofessional student teams pitch possible solutions, which are reviewed by clinic leaders. The session closes with team debrief and individual reflection.Implementation: Course directors, in collaboration with clinic student leaders, designed the hackathon to generate practical solutions and foster student teamwork. Before the session, students review the clinic website. During the hackathon, clinic leaders provide an overview of the clinic’s operations and issue challenges in two rounds. Teams submit their solutions, and the clinic selects top pitches for recognition. Interested teams are invited to continue working on solutions with the clinic. At the course midpoint, the clinic updates students on the progress of the selected ideas.Evaluation plan: Students engage in team self-assessment based on the interprofessional collaborative practice core competencies co-led by a team member as well as individual reflections and evaluations.Outcome(s) and significance: The Community Hackathon generated a wide spectrum of creative, value-aligned solutions to real-life, structural limitations endured by a student-run free clinic. Hackathon teams generated 187 ideas to address clinic challenges. In evaluations, students highlighted the value of brainstorming, real-life scenarios, and collaboration with diverse peers. The experience raised awareness of local healthcare issues and encouraged creative, value-aligned solutions.

In 2024, the average course student (n=225) ratings for the experience was 4.28 out of 5 (SD = 0.971); learning from and with each other was 4.527 out of 5 (SD = 0.737); and collaboration was 4.655 out of 5 (SD = 0.620).