When clinicians in Massachusetts General Hospital’s medical intensive care unit were waking patients to remove them from ventilators, they noticed a familiar pattern.
Patients were often frightened and agitated. Many required additional medication to stay calm, prolonging the weaning process and delaying recovery.
This is nothing new—it’s a common reaction after being ventilated. But on this day, the nurses began wondering if there was another, better way.
They began testing weighted blankets as a non-pharmacological intervention. The idea worked. Patients remained calmer, required less medication, and were able to come off ventilators an average of a day and a half sooner. But the commercially available blankets weren’t designed for hospitals. They weren’t easy to clean, weren’t compatible with MRI machines, and didn’t meet the needs of clinicians.
So, the nurses did what nurses often do. They redesigned it.
Working alongside patients, infection prevention experts, manufacturers, and engineers, the team developed an entirely new weighted blanket specifically for healthcare—one that is now patented and undergoing larger clinical studies.
It’s the kind of innovation that rarely makes headlines yet has the potential to improve care for thousands of patients.
And it’s exactly the kind of work that led Massachusetts General Hospital to establish something believed to be the first endowed chair dedicated specifically to nurse innovation.
Innovation isn’t something separate from nursing—it is nursing. Every day nurses see opportunities to improve care because we’re at the bedside 24 hours a day. The question isn’t whether nurses have ideas. The question is whether we’ve built a system that helps them turn those ideas into solutions that improve care.
Recognizing innovation where it happens
Massachusetts General Hospital recently named Hiyam Nadel, MBA, CCG RN, FIEL, as the inaugural Francesco Pompei, PhD and Marybeth Pompei, DNS, RN Endowed Chair in Nursing Innovation.
For Nadel, Director of the Center for Innovations in Care Delivery, the appointment represents far more than personal recognition. It reflects years of building an innovation ecosystem that empowers nurses to transform frontline observations into practical solutions that improve care.
Innovation, she believes, has always been a part of her nursing journey.
“I knew I always thought differently and saw things differently, and I was lucky enough to have visionary leaders who supported implementing new ideas. Innovation isn’t something separate from nursing—it is nursing. Every day nurses see opportunities to improve care because we’re at the bedside 24 hours a day. The question isn’t whether nurses have ideas. The question is whether we’ve built a system that helps them turn those ideas into solutions that improve care,” she said.
That willingness to experiment has led to dozens of nurse-driven solutions at Mass General—from redesigned transplant walkers that accommodate multiple drains and oxygen tubing, to safer blood-transfer devices that reduce needlestick injuries and blood loss, to new technologies supporting language development for premature infants.
Each innovation began the same way: a nurse recognized a problem worth solving.
More than an honor—it is an investment
The endowed chair itself grew directly from those innovations.
Dr. Francesco Pompei, founder and CEO of medical device company Exergen, and his wife, Dr. Marybeth Pompei, a nurse scientist, learned about innovation efforts taking place across the organization and wanted to invest in continuing them. They were particularly impressed by the breadth of solutions nurses had developed to improve patient care and the hospital experience.
The endowed chair creates permanent support for nursing innovation by helping sustain the leadership role and freeing additional resources to expand innovation efforts across the organization. It ensures that nurse innovation remains a strategic priority long into the future.
More importantly, it sends a broader message to healthcare: if innovation is a priority, nurses deserve dedicated infrastructure to support it.
Building systems—not just solutions
One of the biggest misconceptions about innovation is that it begins with breakthrough ideas.
Nadel sees it differently.
“It takes two things,” she said. “You have the ideas, but where do you go with them? And is it a culture where the system likes new things, trialing things, and taking risks? Because the two have to match to be really successful.”
“Ideas alone don’t change healthcare. Innovation requires both people and infrastructure. Frontline clinicians generate extraordinary ideas every day, but organizations have to create pathways that allow those ideas to be tested, measured, refined, and, when successful, scaled. Culture is what transforms isolated ideas into lasting change.”
That’s increasingly the direction healthcare organizations are moving.
Rather than waiting for innovations to happen organically, many systems are building formal pathways for nurses to identify problems, prototype solutions, test ideas, measure outcomes, and scale successful approaches. Innovation becomes part of the culture instead of relying on extraordinary individuals working after hours.
Mass General’s Center for Innovations in Care Delivery reflects that philosophy. Nurses submit ideas from the frontlines, collaborate with engineers, researchers, operational leaders, designers, manufacturers—and increasingly, patients—to develop solutions grounded in real clinical experience.
“We do a lot of things with patients, too, which is unbelievable, because the clinician and the patient are developing the idea together,” Nadel shared. “Patients aren’t simply recipients of innovation—they’re partners in designing it. When we combine the lived experience of patients with the clinical expertise of nurses and other clinicians, we build solutions that are both practical and deeply human-centered.”
Every health system can start
While an endowed chair represents a significant investment, Nadel believes formal innovation doesn’t have to begin with philanthropy or multimillion-dollar funding.
“I tell nurses to look within your own hospitals for resources. A lot of systems will have metal shops, electricians; that staff loves to do stuff that’s different than their day-to-day work,” she said. “You can partner with universities and ask if they’ll give extra credit to their engineering students. You can start to build your collaboration partners.”
“You don’t need a multimillion-dollar innovation center to begin. Every hospital already has remarkable expertise—engineers, infection prevention specialists, simulation centers, operational leaders, quality teams, and community partners. You can also look towards universities, engineering schools, and manufacturers.Innovation starts by connecting people who don’t traditionally work together.”
Many of Mass General’s earliest innovations were built through exactly those kinds of collaborations, leveraging expertise that already existed inside and outside the organization.
Her advice for health systems looking to build innovation capacity is equally practical.
“Just start somewhere. I mentor a lot of people across the country in health systems, and some have created committees; others take carts and go to the units themselves to get feedback. Just start somewhere, start small, and be strategic in that whatever you decide to solve should be a pain point for the hospital too.”
“Start with the problems that matter most to patients, clinicians, and the organization. Don’t innovate for innovation’s sake. Focus on meaningful pain points, measure your outcomes, and build credibility on one successful project at a time. Success creates momentum, and momentum changes culture.”
A signal for the future of nursing
For years, nursing innovation has often depended on passionate individuals finding ways to improve care despite limited time and resources.
The inaugural Francesco Pompei, PhD and Marybeth Pompei, DNS, RN Endowed Chair in Nursing Innovation represents something different. It recognizes that nurse innovation is not an extracurricular activity. It is a strategic capability worth investing in, protecting, and expanding.
“This endowed chair isn’t simply recognition of one person’s work. It’s recognition that nursing innovation deserves permanent infrastructure. When organizations invest in nurses as innovators, they aren’t just supporting individual projects—they’re strengthening their ability to continuously improve care for patients and communities.”
