When Hiyam Nadel, RN, MBA, CGC, gives lectures to nurses, she often begins by showing a roll of tape and asking a simple question: “How many things have you done with a piece of tape - making modifications to equipment that wasn’t working quite right?” Image

Rebecca S. Koszalinski, PhD, RN, CRRN, CMSRN, was inspired to become a nurse after experiencing a nurse’s care during her own health journey.

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As the healthcare industry becomes more focused on innovation as a pathway to improving patient outcomes, nurses are stepping up as leaders and innovators, turning their frontline experience into creative solutions to improve patient care. Across her various positions at the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn), Marion Leary, RN, MSN, MPH, FAHA, is focused on researching ways that nurse-led initiatives can improve healthcare now and in the future.

As the first nurse to be selected by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and The Lemelson Foundation as an AAAS-Lemelson Invention Ambassador, Rachel Walker, PhD, RN, is intimately familiar with nurse-driven innovation and the significant impact it has on healthcare. Dr. Walker is a nurse inventor, former rural emergency medical and disaster relief worker, assistant professor at the University of Massachusetts (UMass) Amherst College of Nursing, and advocate for nurses as leaders in healthcare innovation and improvement.

After a nearly 20-year nursing career, Patricia (Tricia) Cady, RN, ADN, BSN, decided to return to school to pursue her BSN at the University of Virginia (UVA) School of Nursing, where she observed a long-standing problem with extubations in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). To help address this issue, Tricia developed the idea for the Cady Hug, a flexible vest that helps protect neonates from accidental extubations while keeping them comfortable and their tubes accessible for their care providers.

While working for Mercy Health Saint Mary’s in Grand Rapids, Mich., Lauran Hardin, MSN, RN-BC, CNL, met one patient whose complex social issues and challenging life circumstances led to his frequent visits to the emergency room — not because he was injured or sick, but because he needed somewhere to go to feel safe. She realized that there is much more complexity to every patient than just their medical conditions, and healthcare providers can make a difference for these vulnerable people.

For years, the best practice for protecting a certain type of birth defect called an omphalocele before surgery was to dry it out, which shrinks the surface area of the exposed organs, but requires a lengthy hospital stay. Enter Roxana Reyna, MSN, RNC-NIC, WCC, CWOCN, FNP-C, a nurse with 20 years experience as a nurse in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).

Congenital heart disease (CHD) affects an estimated 40,000 babies born every year, making it the most common birth defect found in infants. Though some forms of CHD do not result in health problems later in life, about 25 percent of infants with CCHD have a critical CHD, which can lead to negative outcomes if not diagnosed soon after birth.