Nurses as makers?
Innovation by nurses and “workarounds” in patient care delivery are often discouraged, but developers are realizing that the hands-on clinical experience of nurses can be a great asset for clinical innovation.
A great example of this shift is MakerNurse, a joint venture of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Little Devices Lab at MIT. Started in 2013, the project includes an nurse-led innovation community and hospital-based Expedition Sites with teams of nurses exploring product and practice innovation.
Many of these innovations are the product of necessity, created by home health or rehab nurses searching for solutions that patients can replicate at home, like replacing expensive foam used in the hospital with drug store corn pads to help prevent foot injuries in diabetic patients. Some of the nurse makers are intensive or acute care nurses working at the hospital bedside. Even here, the simplest solutions can make a difference, like glow in the dark IV holders to make sure IV lines are secure in the dark.
At the UVA Health Unbound health hackathon, the group heard a pitch from a nurse in a rural African hospital who struggled with stocking single use items like adhesive EKG pads. She challenged participants to address the barriers associated with patient care in limited-resource settings.
If you’re looking for ideas for a project, design competition, or health hackathon, invite a nurse or a patient to share their daily challenges. Within those challenges may lie an opportunity to apply a little health innovation and design thinking to improve patient care.
BME Design 