How Nurses Can Lead Innovation

November 26, 2024 ‐ HealthLeaders Media

By G Hatfield

It’s an exciting time for innovation in the healthcare space, as new technologies pop up across the industry that can improve care delivery.

Health systems everywhere are experimenting with several new innovations, all with the goal of streamlining processes and removing unnecessary burdens from nurses and physicians alike.

At Houston Methodist, the innovation team built what the Houston Methodist Center for Innovation Technology Hub, nicknamed the Tech Hub, which according to Murat Uralkan, director of innovation at Houston Methodist, serves as a hands-on living laboratory.

“When we need to push a new configuration, or a new network setup, we can do this all in isolation, without disrupting any patients,” Uralkan said. “We can try things before [they hit] the floor, because no matter how small a pilot is, it is still going to be very disruptive.”

A peek inside the Tech Hub

Within the Tech Hub, there are several rooms that simulate the patient’s experience, both at home and at the hospital. There, the health system tests new technologies before implementing them, Uralkan explained.

“We bring it here first, the technology is not fully ready for operations, but we’ll host it here,” Uralkan said, “and then we’ll start building awareness first, then we’ll start building proof of concept, and when it’s ready we’ll start taking it to operations.”

Inside the Tech Hub, along with the health system’s virtual nursing platform, are digital whiteboards, which show the care team members, the patient’s isolation status or risks, and when the patient has made a request from another handheld screen. Another piece is the BioButton, which can monitor a patient’s vitals and streamline data into the electronic health record more frequently and regularly.

“Today, the standard of practice is someone comes into the room every four hours, or every six hours, to take your vitals,” Uralkan said. “We’re taking your vitals, or at least important critical vitals, every minute now, and we can trend that data and help nurses relieve the burden, and also increase safety.”

Getting nurses involved

Last week, Gail Vozzella, senior vice president and chief nurse executive at Houston Methodist, spoke live from the Houston Methodist Tech Hub at the Ion, to talk about why and how nurses should get involved with innovation, and how leaders can use their seat at the table to advocate for nursing technology.

According to Vozzella, nurses should lead innovation for four reasons: nurses are vocal and will give direct feedback; they understand the “why” and are directly impacted by new technologies; the most successful innovations happen with nurses, and not to nurses; and lastly, nurses are able to help spread the technology across health systems quickly.

“You have to have nursing involved at the unit level in trialing [new technology],” Vozzella said. “We have to be open to the feedback that they give us.”

G Hatfield is the CNO editor for HealthLeaders.

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