Developing a Culture of Support to Advance and Accelerate Nursing Innovation

Nurses everywhere are called to seek new and better ways of providing care in the complex and dynamic environments where they practise. The core of innovation is the creation of new ideas and use of existing ideas in new ways or in new settings. Today, innovation and fresh thinking are more important than ever as the world is changing rapidly and complexity is the norm. Nurse leaders are called to action to create the insights, cultures, structures and methodologies needed to promote the development and uptake of innovative ideas in nursing practice and interdisciplinary team work. This paper highlights three successful examples of nursing leadership in the development of a culture of innovation at the national (SE Health), provincial (Registered Nurses Foundation of Ontario's Nurse Innovator Awards) and local (Sinai Health) levels. The goal of these initiatives is to cultivate innovation as a way of being, thinking and doing, ensuring that it is inherent in nursing culture and visible in nursing practice, education and research that enhances patients' and care partners' experiences.