Health Informatics New Zealand (HiNZ) is organising a health hackathon to be held over a weekend in Wellington in June to bring together healthcare and technology professionals to develop solutions aimed at benefitting the New Zealand health sector.

HiNZ is also planning a day-long health informatics seminar in Christchurch in June for clinicians and health managers to learn about health informatics, featuring a presentation by National Health IT Board director Graeme Osborne.

The hackathon will be held at the Victoria University of Wellington School of Design from Firday, June 26 to Sunday, June 28, and is being staged in conjunction with the design school and VicLink.

According to HiNZ, a hackathon is an open source environment, which enables the event to have a transparent and altruistic atmosphere. Participants are able to pitch a concept and seek team members with whom to work on the idea for the rest of the weekend.

Mentors are available for advice and an expert panel involving clinicians and start-up experts will judge the final presentations on the Sunday.

The hackathon is open to software developers, clinicians, health sector managers, patients and anyone with an interest in healthcare technology. It is free to attend but places are limited to 100 people.

The HiNZ Health Informatics Seminar will be held at the CDHB Design Lab in Christchurch on Thursday, June 25.

Designed for clinicians and health managers who wish to gain confidence interacting with technology-related projects in their workplace, the seminar will explain health informatics, how it is reshaping healthcare globally, and what is happening in the local health informatics sector.

In addition to Mr Osborne, speakers include University of Auckland senior lecturer in health informatics Karen Day, the director of nursing for Nurse Maude, Sheree East, senior director for health and social services with Microsoft Asia, Gabe Rijma, and HiNZ board chair Liz Schoff.

HiNZ is also holding a series of free, two-hour primer workshops around the country for clinicians who want an introduction to the field of health informatics. Primers are currently scheduled for Waikato, Auckland and Wellington in May with more planned.

For more information on these events, email [email protected] or see the HiNZ website.