Healthcare Innovation

Lack of access to primary and mental healthcare is an issue faced by many across the country, and a situation that is even more challenging for rural communities.

Jasmine Bhatti and Ayan Said of Navi Concierge Nurses are building a platform that connects both patients and nurses seeking better outcomes in at-home care

Throughout history, nurses have played an outsized role in interacting with patients, with critical roles in prevention, education, treatment and recovery. In celebration of International Women's Day and Women’s History Month, meet nurses whose innovative approaches to patient care have profoundly changed human health.

At this year’s Aspen Ideas: Health Festival, Johnson & Johnson sponsored two sessions that invited healthcare innovators and changemakers from around the world to share their stories of why and how they’re shaping a world where everyone can thrive.

Chief Nursing Optimization Officer Betty Jo Rocchio, MS, BSN, CRNA, CENP, and her team at Mercy are using technology, data and analytics to create environments that provide nurses more time at the bedside doing what they do best: caring for patients and developing innovative solutions.

Following her recent keynote at the 2019 ONS Congress, we sat down with nurse inventor and advocate Rachel Walker, PhD, RN, to get her perspective on how we can increase participation in the healthcare innovation space from nurses of all backgrounds and at any stage of their careers.

We’re excited to announce that the awardees of the first Johnson & Johnson Nurses Innovate QuickFire Challenge are Lauren Wright, CEO and Founder at The Natural Nipple, and Abby Hess, nurse inventor at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. Read more about their great ideas to change human health.

Johnson & Johnson proudly supported nurse innovators and entrepreneurs this April who are profoundly changing human health and moving healthcare forward. Learn more about our presence at several of this month’s largest nursing conferences, including NSNA Convention, AORN Expo, and ONS Congress.

Nurses are more likely to come in contact with human trafficking victims during the time of their exploitation than any other profession[1], but very few are identified by staff and helped to find safety. Nurse innovator Danielle Jordan Bastien, APRN, DNP, FNP-BC, was determined to help those potential victims who might be in danger by developing a screening protocol that helps healthcare workers identify signs of abuse.

Lori Lioce, DNP, FNP-BC, CHSOS, CHSE, FAANP, began her career as a dental hygienist. As she learned more and more about each of her patients and their overall health, she decided to make a change – she went back to school to become a nurse with the goal of improving health outcomes for as many patients as possible.

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?”

Imagine if Florence Nightingale hadn’t worked to improve the standard of the sanitary practices used in hospitals, or if Sister Jean Ward never discovered that sunlight helped treat jaundice in newborns. Throughout history, nurses have been on the front lines of care, profoundly transforming health through the creation of new innovations that ultimately changed the standard of care to this day. By caring for the sick when others won’t, identifying smarter and better ways to heal, and developing life-saving methods, nurses are important facilitators of health across the globe. Still, many people don’t recognize the role nurses play in changing the trajectory of human health.

At the center of reinventing healthcare protocols, treatment approaches, devices, and more, you’ll discover a nurse. Nurses are the backbone of our healthcare system, and they have the insight, resourcefulness, and experience to innovate and help address critical health challenges that face our communities.

Throughout history, nurses have played an outsized role in interacting with patients, with critical roles in prevention, education, treatment, and recovery. Supporting nurses has been at the heart of our work at Johnson & Johnson since 1897, from employment to platforms, partnerships, training, and scholarships. Today, we work to change the trajectory of human health and firmly believe that nurses — 3.2 million strong in the United States — are the backbone of our healthcare system.

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

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.

In November 2017, the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin) School of Nursing Simulation Center introduced an addition to its inventory of cutting-edge technology: Robo-Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (RoboAPRN). The robot is part of the program’s “RoboAPRN: Telepresence Robots in Healthcare Education” project, which introduces student nurses to remote telehealth technology.

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.

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).

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.

Nancy P. Hanrahan, PhD, RN, FAAN, executive director and associate dean of healthcare innovation and entrepreneurship at the Bouve College of Health Sciences and professor and former dean of the School of Nursing at Northeastern University, is firmly committed to evolving the reputation of nursing.

Student nurses left the National Student Nurses’ Association (NSNA) 66th Annual Convention plenary session feeling inspired about their future role as healthcare professionals in a world where nurses are empowered, recognized, and valued as change makers.

Earlier this month at the 66th Annual National Student Nurses’ Association Convention in Nashville, Tenn., Rebecca Love, MSN, RN, ANP, addressed thousands of student nurses at the plenary session hosted by Johnson & Johnson, and inspired them to redefine the nursing profession through innovation and entrepreneurship.

While working as an organ procurement coordinator and and pursuing his Doctorate of Nursing Practice (DNP), Adam K. Schneider was inspired to help his team reach a higher standard of care and education around maintaining donated lungs.

In an environment like a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), constant improvements and dedication to patient safety are essential to provide efficient, up-to-date care. Maureen Maurano, BSN, RN, NICU nurse manager at Children’s National in Washington, D.C., knows firsthand how important patient-focused care is and has implemented initiatives at the hospital that ensure top-level care for the smallest, most fragile patients.

Each year, the South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive Festival brings together the world’s most forward-thinking industry leaders to talk about today’s best practices and tomorrow’s most exciting trends. SXSW Interactive sessions highlight recent technology advancements and feature forward-thinking innovators looking to make positive change around the world. This year, SXSW featured a panel comprised of some of healthcare’s top innovators: nurses.

In today’s modern world, technology and innovation are essential to furthering the nursing profession. As the founder and CEO of NurseGrid, Joe Novello, BSN, RN, is using his nursing skills to help improve the nursing profession and advance outcomes for patients.

Advances in technology are improve outcomes for patients of all ages, including babies born with single ventricle heart disease.

By providing bedside care, nurses often have unique insights into the needs of specific patient populations.

Are you an entrepreneur or innovator? Your big idea or everyday innovation can help advance the healthiest generation in human history—GenH.

When you hear the word “hackathon,” you may not necessarily envision a room full of nurses brainstorming ideas. However, at the “Nurse Hackathon: Nurses Hacking HealthCare” event, nurses are leading the problem solving and developing solutions to issues in healthcare.

Improving the health of women can not only save lives, it can contribute to the overall health and economy of a nation. Nurses can help communities improve women’s health by providing education, healthcare services, health supplies and increased awareness of key issues.

“When the music played, the patients went to a beautiful place in their mind. We saw them dancing or tapping their feet and moving their heads. It was amazing to watch.” - Kristine Carpina, LPN

Nurse Angela Mackay's Psychiatric Emergency Response Team helps maintain a safe environment and the use of therapeutic communication – which results in better outcomes for the patient and healthcare team.

ICU nurses Kerrie Klepfer and Jennifer LeBlanc had no idea that their efforts would save their hospital 2.9 million dollars and inspire similar initiatives across the globe. They just wanted to see their patients experience a safer, quicker recovery.

As global leaders in innovation for the betterment of healthcare, nurses go above and beyond every day to care for their patients. Nurses give back to their communities by being the people on whom others rely. One nurse, Rebecca Schnall, Ph.D., MPH, RN-BC, uses her interests in public health and nursing informatics to research ways to improve patient care. Schnall is an assistant professor of nursing at Columbia University School of Nursing in New York, N.Y. Her research focuses on helping people living with and at risk for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).