The Process of Innovation in Nursing; An International Perspective

Purpose:  The purpose of this poster presention is to report the findings of an international literature review of models of innovation, definitions and processes as applied to nursing. To date much of the theoretical and research literature on innovation has emerged from the business, economics and technology fields, with relatively little attributed to healthcare or nursing. This is problematic because the processes emerging for fields such as manufacturing, fail to take into account the ideas of practitioners, patients and the almost unique regulatory framework in which nursing operates. The concept of innovation has clearly been at the forefront of recent discussions in nursing and healthcare. Yet, with all the talk of innovation and innovativeness, it is unclear how nursing is using this term, and whether  unified understanding of the term innovation exists in nursing. 

Methods: As a starting point to the examination of nursing and innovation, it was necessary to examine the literature. We were interested in understanding whether innovation, as used in nursing, was similar to its use in other fields that have traditionally focused on innovation study and theory (i.e. business management and economics). With the use of the word “innovation” increasingly evident in the nursing field, we sought to assess trends over the past several decades in the frequency of its use in titles of articles published in nursing journals. An analysis of the use of innovation in the nursing literature was conducted that included nearly 3000 titles in 300 journals between the years 1981-2014. In addition, a review was conducted on theoretical-based literature that represented the current thinking in the field of innovation as well as including literature from the healthcare and nursing fields. An analysis was performed of the existing theoretical ideas and shaped to include the current dimensions of professional nursing practice, research and education.

Results: During the time period 1981 to 2014, the number of publications with innovation in the title grew from 30 between 1981-1984 to nearly 700 between 2010-2014, with an average five-year growth rate of 55%.  There was a notable increase of over 800% in the frequency of titles containing innovation or derivatives, from the 1980s to the 2010s. Upon further analysis of our sample, we found that titles from nursing education journals represented nearly a quarter of the total publications, with publications from the Journal of Nursing Education (JNE) alone representing over 75% of these. JNE notably contains a regular feature entitled “Educational Innovations” that was responsible for many of these titles. From our literature and theoretical review, a model was derived that includes the role of interprofessional collaboration, value creations, risk assessment and organizational culture as key elements to the successful introduction of innovative ideas and practices.

Conclusion: A model for introducing innovation into practice, research and education is presented that incorporates current theoretical and practice issues relevant to nursing. This models represents a comprehensive assessment of current thinking about innovation as it applies to any aspect of nursing endeavor. In examining the process of developing and applying innovative practices, administrators, educators and clinicians should be informed about the complexity of this endeavor as well as the inter-connectivity of elements necessary for a successful and sustained process of change.