Excellence Series: Innovation in Acute Care

Course overview

Most healthcare professionals would agree that the only constant in healthcare is change. Ongoing research, new evidence, increasingly complex patient care, and the need to satisfy patients and families have led to constant micro and macro adjustments in care delivery. Nurses are the largest group of healthcare professionals, totaling 3.8 million nationwide, and hold great responsibility for both the development and implementation of innovative ideas AACN, 2019. The World Health Organization defines innovation as the development of new or improved health policies, systems, products, technologies, services, and delivery methods that improve peoples health. Health innovation can be preventive, promotive, therapeutic, rehabilitative, and/or assistive WHO Innovation Group, n.d. This course will discuss how innovations can be recognized, developed, adopted, and disseminated amongst staff, as well as review areas where innovations are likely to change the provision of care in the current environment or in the near future. Lastly, we will discuss the patients role in innovation, and how patient and family centered care will drive ongoing changes.