Survey: Nurse innovators need C-suite support to handle future demands

Clinical and business leaders say by 2025 they believe the top four most valuable skills for their nurse innovators will be the interface of clinical innovation and technology and design-thinking for process change, and excellent clinical acumen. This is according to “Unleashing Nurse-Led Innovation,” a study released by The BDO Center for Healthcare Excellence & Innovation and the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing.

The irony, however, is that most of those surveyed also admitted they have not elevated nurses to the leadership levels needed to fully transform care, according to a BDO news release. Just 31 percent of clinical leaders today have a designated nursing leader whose primary responsibility is innovation, and less than half (46 percent) of business leaders say their C-suite includes someone with a nursing background.

“Health stakeholders’ ability to thrive amid the new consumer-driven health system depends on nurses claiming a seat at the table at the leadership level,” said Antonia M. Villarruel, Margaret Bond Simon Dean of Nursing at the University of Pennsylvania, in the statement. “If true care transformation is to take shape to improve patient outcomes at lower costs, health systems and businesses must recognize that nursing can and must extend well beyond the bedside and community—and into the boardroom.”

Findings from the study include:

·   Nursing innovation has yet to be fully unleashed, including institutionally, regulatory-wise and policy-wise: Just 31 percent of clinical leaders today have a designated nursing leader whose primary responsibility is innovation, and less than half (46 percent) of business leaders say their C-suite includes someone with a nursing background.

·   Nurses need a seat at the leadership table: Among those industry C-suites that do include someone with a nursing background, only 7 percent are the CEO and 8 percent the Innovation Officer.

·   Unleashing nurse-led innovation is a care imperative: Some of our most urgent health problems - chronic care management, mental health (including addiction) and population health - rank in the top 4 areas where nurses have the most opportunity to transform care, according to both clinical and business leaders.

·   Unleashing nurse-led innovation will produce positive ROI for businesses: 57 percent of business leaders say advanced leadership is a skill they’ll view as very important to nurse innovators within their organization by 2025, and 81 percent of clinical leaders say placing nurses as decisionmakers on all strategic planning teams will be very important for their organizations.

“Nurses are already leading sweeping, research-driven innovations at larger, systemic levels within clinical and business organizations,” said Karen Meador, Managing Director and Senior Physician Executive in The BDO Center for Healthcare Excellence & Innovation, in the statement. “They’re just having to navigate around certain roadblocks to do it. Roadblocks need to be removed, and systems must embrace nurses as leaders in innovation. Unleashing nurse innovators is a care imperative and a business imperative.”