Convener. Collaborator. Connector. Nurses can play a unique role in innovation, and no one believes that more than Dr. Bonnie Clipper. After an impactful career as a nurse for more than 30 years, including 20 as a nurse executive, Bonnie had the opportunity to leverage her insights and passion for innovation as the first Vice President of Innovation for the American Nurses Association (ANA), where she led the development of the innovation framework to include the millions of registered nurses nationally to help them advance their ideas and innovations.
Now working as Chief Clinical Officer at Wambi and a health innovation mentor at MATTER, Bonnie is leveraging her experience as a nurse and her understanding of innovation to influence the design and development of healthcare solutions. Her recent experiences speaking globally about the power of nurse-led innovation influenced her to publish her new book, “The Nurse's Guide to Innovation: Accelerating the Journey,” a guide for nurses interested in developing, patenting, funding and marketing their great ideas to improve healthcare.
The Johnson & Johnson Notes on Nursing team recently spoke with Bonnie to learn more about her book and hear how she believes nurses can seize opportunities in leadership and innovation as we head into the Year of the Nurse.
I also think it’s so important for today’s nurses to be equipped with training in social determinants of health, behavioral psychology, design thinking, predictive analytics, data analytics – even “Technology 101.” This would provide nurses with a frame of reference for new programs or technologies aiming to change how they approach their work.
I believe nurses will be instrumental in new models of care. Many are fixated on patient care that is delivered traditionally in brick and mortar, but care is moving outpatient and virtually. And many are fighting it tooth and nail, but more and more innovative groups are looking at how to deliver even intermediate level care in the patient’s home. I’ve had conversations with providers whose solutions involve having nurse practitioners or physicians performing virtual rounds, as well as other solutions encouraging the rental of ICU equipment that is managed by home health nurses in the patient’s home.
I also think public and community health nursing is getting a new lease on life. There is a huge role for nurses to play in transforming safety, violence prevention, scaling wellness and even climate change. If nurses can get more training and education in these areas, they can play an incredibly important role in transforming health outcomes in our country. Public health nurses are amazing, and we are ready to amplify their often-unrecognized work.
The feedback so far has been incredibly positive. In the first 30 hours after the release, we became an Amazon bestseller in six countries, including USA, Canada, Japan, Australia, Germany and Spain. Our publisher said they never thought that would happen, or that it would be a nursing book that accomplished it. It proves that the overwhelming demand is there. We’ve talked with some nursing schools interested in providing it as a supplemental book to some courses and to some organizations interested in making it available at their conferences.

(Bonnie Clipper speaking at the 2018 ANA Innovation Conference NursePitch™ event)
Dr. Bonnie Clipper’s new book, “The Nurse's Guide to Innovation: Accelerating the Journey,” is available on Amazon here.