Innovations in Nursing at Ohio State -- Introduction

Nursing has long been known as a profession for developing novel ways to advance health and meet ever-evolving needs. As our nation -- and the world -- enters a new era of healthcare challenges, nurse innovators will be more crucial now than ever. Here at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, nursing innovators are leading the way in patient care, patient experience and healthy work environments.
Ohio State nurses have collaborated with interdisciplinary teams at the medical center on a number of innovative solutions to solve challenges plaguing the healthcare industry. For instance:
• An observation unit was developed for patients coming in through the Emergency Department who require additional monitoring, but in a specified psychiatric care setting.
• An interdisciplinary team implemented the Patient Alarm Management project, using a secondary alert notification system to filter important, critical alarms directly to a nurse's handheld phone.
• Nursing developed a travelling yoga program to help teach clinicians to better cope with stress in their work environment.
• A devoted relaxation room on one of the nursing units promotes self-care by providing a calm, peaceful space for staff to reduce their stress levels.
• Nurses created a fitness room so clinical staff have the opportunity to step away and reenergize, taking better care of themselves so they can take better care of our patients.
• A space was dedicated to patients and families needing end-of-life care, providing them with a larger, more peaceful environment, specific amenities and extensive support during a difficult transition.
• An established nursing innovation unit pilots a number of new ideas so they can be fine-tuned before rolling out to other areas.
• An inpatient nursing care model redesign allows for more purposeful rounding, focused attention on patient needs and better continuity of care, all with the intent of increasing staff responsiveness and decreasing patient length-of-stay.
All of these projects began in the same place. They started out as a question. "How can I create a better experience for my patients? How can we maintain a safer environment for our patients? What can we do to improve our staff satisfaction?" From there, they grew into ideas. When paired with dedication and collaboration, they became innovations.

Stay tuned for the next video in the Nursing Innovations at Ohio State series, where we'll feature a segment on our hospital's Patient Alarm Management Project.