Culture of Innovation in UH Nursing Continues to Thrive

UH Clinical Update | August 2023

By Michelle Hereford, MSHA, RN, FACHE, System Chief Nurse Executive and the Ethel Morikis Endowed Chair in Nursing Leadership

To innovate is to let go of the past, to have both the confidence and the commitment that the way things have always been is not the way they have to be. When an organization has high aspirations for excellence, such as we have at UH, innovation is a required element. For our part in UH nursing, we’re building a culture of innovation, with the goals of achieving ever-better experiences and outcomes for our patients and an inclusive, rewarding working environment for our nurses. This work is fueled by the ingenuity of our caregivers and their creative, new ideas.

Michelle D. Hereford, MSHA, RN, FACHE

These efforts span everything from optimizing technology to reduce wasted effort at the bedside to reimagining what the most effective nursing team looks like. For example, we’ve already been piloting a bed repositioning device that has been shown to improve patient experience while simultaneously improving caregiver safety. As part of the new Veale Initiative for Health Care Innovation, supported by a $10 million gift from the Veale Foundation, I will be collaborating with project leader Peter Pronovost, MD, PhD, FCCM, UH Chief Quality and Clinical Transformation Officer, Veale Distinguished Chair in Leadership and Clinical Transformation, and others to find more opportunities like this. Together, we’ll develop ways to leverage technology to help alleviate “pain points” in healthcare delivery, for everyone’s benefit.

But innovation in nursing at UH shouldn’t be thought of as simply a synonym for technology. On October 27, we’ll host our 2023 Nursing Research and Innovation Conference, with the theme of “Reinventing Effective Nursing Teams and Teamness through the Lens of Appreciative Inquiry.” Appreciative Inquiry is a method that addresses change within organizations using a strength-based approach rather than the traditional deficit-based approach. It focuses on what is positive, on what is right. On October 27, our UH nurses will focus on the four D’s (Discover, Dream, Design, Destiny) of appreciative inquiry to reinvent effective nursing teams.  We will move through the four D’s to discover the best of what a team is, dream what teams of today might be and then design how the teams should be.

This type of innovation is crucial. We know, of course, that healthy, high-functioning nursing teams help drive everything we care most about in healthcare – great clinical outcomes and positive experiences for our patients, as well as a more satisfied and engaged workforce with reduced turnover. What we’re doing as nurses here is already helping to achieve these ends. Hospitals across our system continue to earn quality accolades, due in no small part to nurses. Eight UH hospitals achieved either four or five stars from CMS in its 2023 quality ratings. In addition, several UH hospitals were among UH Harrington Heart & Vascular Institute sites that achieved Advanced Chest Pain Certification from DNV. And for 25th year, UH Cleveland Medical Center ranked as a Best Hospital by U.S. News & World Report, with UH Rainbow also recognized as a Best Children’s Hospital, ranking among Top 50 in all 10 specialties. We’re also seeing success in building and maintaining our nursing workforce at UH. As a system, we have enhanced caregiver retention and recruitment, with overall turnover rates for first-year caregivers and registered nurses improving significantly over last year.

Quality nursing is clearly at the heart of quality outcomes. By continuing to innovate, both in how we take care of patients and take care of each other as nurses, we can’t help but reach even greater heights.