Beyond Tradition: Building the Organizational Infrastructure for Nursing Innovation

Area of Science:

• Health Services Research
• Organizational Science
• Nursing Innovation

Background:

• Healthcare faces challenges like workforce shortages and rising costs, necessitating innovation.
• Nurses are well-positioned to drive improvements but face organizational barriers.
• Existing literature highlights the need for understanding supportive organizational conditions for nursing innovation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To synthesize evidence on organizational conditions fostering nursing innovation.
• To propose a conceptual framework for enhancing innovation capacity in healthcare organizations.

Main Methods:

• An integrative conceptual synthesis of literature from nursing, healthcare innovation, organizational science, psychology, design, and innovation.
• Identification of recurring organizational conditions, processes, and structures supporting nursing innovation.
• Development of the Nursing Innovation Ecosystem Model based on synthesized evidence.

Main Results:

• Innovation is an organizational capability, not solely an individual trait.
• Key supporting conditions include psychological safety, design thinking, protected time/resources, innovation structures, interdisciplinary collaboration, and organizational learning.
• The Nursing Innovation Ecosystem Model illustrates the dynamic interaction between individual agency, organizational factors, and outcomes.

Conclusions:

• Sustainable nursing innovation necessitates intentional organizational support.
• The Nursing Innovation Ecosystem Model offers a framework for leadership, education, strategy, and research.
• Strengthening nursing innovation capacity is crucial for sustainable practice transformation.