National Health IT Week

For the second time, Nationwide Children's Hospital celebrated National Health IT Week to show how Information Technology employees are helping transform healthcare at Nationwide Children's Hospital.

A myriad of events were held this year to highlight the successes of health IT at our hospital and how employees, behind-the-scenes, have been improving research and care delivery for the more than one million patients seen at Nationwide Children's Hospital each year, as well as pediatric patients at other institutions nationally and internationally.

As part of the NHIT Week celebrations in 2016, a Health IT Showcase and Open House was held on Wednesday, September 28 at the main hospital, outside of the Magic Bean coffee shop. Employees, patients and families, and the general public were all welcome to come celebrate NHIT Week and interact with some of the technologies developed by the User Experience Technology Research and Development team from Research Information Solutions and Innovation (RISI) at The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s.

The User Experience Technology R&D team offers a range of specialized services geared toward realizing cutting-edge and innovative solutions within Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Some of the service verticals on display included interactive game design and development, custom device design and fabrication, and virtual and augmented reality development.

A custom "Whack-a-Mole" game developed by the User Experience Technology team exclusively for the event. Many visitors had fun whacking some virtual moles at the booth.



A Nationwide Children's Hospital employee experiencing the custom "Whack-a-Mole" game developed by the User Experience Technology team exclusively for this event.



Two hospital visitors experience custom games developed by the User Experience Technology team from The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital. One game features a virtual flight through an alternate universe version of the hospital campus, while the other game is a custom "Whack-a-Mole" game developed by the User Experience Technology team exclusively for the event.



A HTC Vive virtual reality controller and an exclusive Nationwide Children's Hospital virtual reality headset designed and fabricated by the User Experience Technology team. Also pictured: a poster print of a screen from the Voxel Bay virtual reality experience design and developed by the User Experience Technology team.



The HTC Vive virtual reality headset and controller. The headset was used to play a custom “Whack-a-Mole” game developed by the User Experience Technology team exclusively for the event.



A visitor to the hospital learning how to use the HTC Vive controller so they can virtually whack some moles.

A visitor to the hospital learning how to use the HTC Vive controller so they can virtually whack some moles.



A visitor to the hospital exploring their virtual environment and finding some suitable hammers behind them. After the surprise of the discovery diminished, the visitor picked up a new mallet and started whacking the virtual moles.



The Ulitmaker 2 3D printer producing a print for a medical device design by the User Experience Technology team for Dr. Chris Breuer.



The Ulitmaker 2 3D printer producing a print for a medical device design by the User Experience Technology team for Dr. Chris Breuer.

As America's largest children's hospital and one of the top 10 NIH-funded free-standing pediatric research facilities, Nationwide Children's Hospital and The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's are creating the future of pediatric health care through collaboration, innovation and raising awareness about the value of health IT. Learn more about the role of the Research Information Solutions and Innovation department at Nationwide Children's by visiting the RISI Research & Development site.

For more information on National Health IT Week, please visit www.healthitweek.org.

Past NHIT Week Events

2015: Nationwide Children's Hospital Celebrates National Health IT Week: One Voice, One Vision - Transforming Health

For the first time, hospital Information Services (IS) and Research Information Solutions and Innovation (RISI) at The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital celebrated National Health IT Week, with a variety of events to highlight the successes of health IT at our hospital. IT employees behind-the-scenes are helping to transform our hospital, which is one of America’s largest pediatric health care and research centers, delivering care for more than one million patient visits each year.

To kick off inaugural celebrations of National Health IT Week and recognize employee accomplishments over the past year, IS organized the Rooster’s truck to serve lunch to hospital and research IT staff on Tuesday, October 7th.

Technology showcase and open house for employees, patients and families

On Thursday, October 8th, a technology showcase and open house was held for employees, patients and families to attend and learn more about the collaborative work of Research IT. These projects ranged from an interactive bike game for Duchenne muscular dystrophy and a virtual reality game for hemophilia patients, to Research IT’s work with the Center for Colorectal and Pelvic Reconstruction, big data and Hadoop, and 3D printing capabilities for research and patient care.

Virtual reality goggles used for the interactive game created by developers at Nationwide Children's (left) and a user trying out the virtual reality goggles (right)

Materials made from 3D printing at Nationwide Children's Hospital

National Health IT week is the one week of the year when we can acknowledge and celebrate the achievements of those who work in health IT at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Together, we can create the future of pediatric health care for children everywhere.

Written by Tiasha Letostak, PhD

For more information on National Health IT Week, please visit www.healthitweek.org.