Date of Award

January 2025

Document Type

Open Access Thesis

Degree Name

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)

Department

Yale University School of Nursing

First Advisor

Joan Kearney

Abstract

Healthcare in the United States is complex and expensive. The 2023 per capita national health expenditure for the United States was $14,570 and 31% of national health expenditures were related to hospital care (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2024). Healthcare innovation is a solution to this problem as it can improve quality and reduce cost (Walker, 2011). The value of nurses’ contribution around innovation tables was demonstrated during the COVID-19 pandemic (Koszalinski et. al, 2021). A 2020 study conducted by Johnson & Johnson, the American Nurses Association, and the American Organization for Nursing Leadership found that only 46 percent of nurses felt supported and encouraged to innovate. Establishing an innovation culture is multi-faceted and requires education, leadership support, and mentoring (Albert, 2018; Barr et al., 2021; Gao et al., 2022). The goal of this DNP project was to develop an infrastructure for nurse-driven innovation in a large academic medical center. Project aims were to develop an innovation program for nurses at this academic medical center, implement and evaluate the innovation program and make recommendations for program scaling and sustainability. This innovation program included formal innovation education, mentoring, tracking, and assessment of innovation support through the Innovation Support Inventory. The project was implemented within the 16 council Nursing Professional Governance structure over 4 months. Project results revealed a statistically significant increase in nurses’ perceptions of innovation support post intervention using a paired t-Test, and the identification of 19 innovations. Program evaluation data support nurses enjoyed the project, education, and resources provided. Organizations can adopt a similar approach to support nurses’ engagement in healthcare innovation to drive healthcare delivery improvements.

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This is an Open Access Thesis.

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