In June 2019, Johnson & Johnson, in collaboration with AWHONN, launched the Johnson & Johnson Nurses Innovate QuickFire Challenge in Maternal and Newborn Health, the third in a series of nurse-led innovation challenges. This Challenge invited nurses to submit their novel concepts, protocols, screenings, treatment approaches and device ideas with the potential to drive better health outcomes in women’s health, obstetric and neonatal settings.
Ahead of National Nurses Week and Mother’s Day, we’re excited to announce that the awardees of this Challenge are Nicole Lincoln, MSN, RN, APRN-BC, CCRN, Advisor at Breegi Scientific, Inc. and Senior Manager of Nursing Innovations at Boston Medical Center, and Sigi Marmorstein, RN, PHN, MSN, FNP-BC, Founder and CEO at BabyLiveAdvice.com.
“Nurses have a tremendous understanding of patient needs and recognize opportunities to improve maternal healthcare. They are best positioned to develop innovative solutions with the potential to improve health outcomes for mothers and their babies,” said Lynda Benton, Senior Director of Corporate Equity at Johnson & Johnson, who leads the Johnson & Johnson commitment to nurses. “We were thrilled to partner with AWHONN for our first Nurses Innovate QuickFire Challenge in Maternal and Newborn Health and can’t wait to see what Nicole and Sigi are able to accomplish with their transformative potential solutions.”
The Johnson & Johnson Notes on Nursing team recently spoke with nurse innovators Nicole and Sigi to learn more about their innovative solutions and how being awarded the Johnson & Johnson Nurses Innovate QuickFire Challenge in Maternal and Newborn Health can help them advance their solutions.
Nicole Lincoln, MSN, RN, APRN-BC, CCRN, Advisor for Breegi Scientific, Inc. and Senior Manager of Nursing Innovations at Boston Medical Center, assisted in the development of the disposable Neonatal Intensive Care Incubator (NICI™), the world's first low-cost, all-in-one neonatal intensive care incubator with a disposable housing.
Where are they now? An update on our first Johnson & Johnson Nurses Innovate QuickFire Challenge Awardees:
Last May, during National Nurses Week 2019, the first two awardees in the Johnson & Johnson Nurses Innovation QuickFire Challenge series were announced - Abby Hess, APRN, DNP of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and Lauren Wright, MSN, AGNP-BC and CEO of The Natural Nipple. Abby and Lauren each received $50,000 in grant funding and mentorship from the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies. As awardees they were also able to access programming and a number of resources for entrepreneurs from Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JLABS, which helps nurture budding start-ups in a no-strings-attached environment.
Abby and her team gamified the anesthesia induction process for pediatric patients, helping calmly engage children during inhalation induction (breathing anesthesia gases through a mask to fall asleep for surgery.) The award, which included $50,000 in grant funding and mentorship from the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies, helped Abby and her team drive product development forward through supporting clinical testing and optimizing the product for clinical use. They are now preparing to test the newest product version in the clinical setting at Cincinnati Children's Hospital and looking forward to collaborations with other hospitals in the next phase.
Lauren Wright, CEO of The Natural Nipple, has put her resourcefulness to work to help frontline workers during the COVID-19 pandemic by connecting her manufacturing contacts to U.S. hospitals to help source personal protective equipment (PPE) and sanitizing units that kill the novel coronavirus in eight seconds. The company now has a patent pending for a Breast Milk Derived COVID-19 Biological Therapeutic for Passive Immunity.
Learn more about the Johnson & Johnson Nurses Innovate QuickFire Challenge series and meet past awardees here and follow @JNJNursing on Facebook and Twitter to stay up-to-date on upcoming Challenge opportunities.