Beyond Nurse Residency

Nurse Innovators Transforming Healthcare

• Nicole Weathers, MSN, RN, NPD-BC • Season 2 • Episode 4

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Join us as we delve into the world of nurse-led innovation and discover how nurses are transforming healthcare through creativity and leadership. In this episode, Allie Hurt, MSN, RN, and Molly Kucera, MBAHC, RN, BSN, BS, CNAMB(E), CNOR, share their experiences and insights into the Nurse Innovators Program at the University of Iowa.

Hear about Molly's journey in creating the Hawkeye Hood Holder, a practical solution developed with the support of UI Ventures and Maker Health. Understand the role of leadership in fostering nurse-led innovation and the resources available for new graduate nurses to make a difference.

Tune in to learn about nurse-led solutions and how you can support these innovative efforts in your organization.

GUESTS:

Allie Hurt, MSN, RN
Nurse Innovator Liaison, UI Ventures | Office of Innovation
Staff Nurse-MICU, Intensive and Specialty Services Division | Department of Nursing

Through her role with the Nurse Innovators Program, Allie provides support to nurses at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, as well as across the state of Iowa. She assists nurses with identifying, developing, and nurturing innovative ideas from concept to prototype across the widely diverse field of nursing. Prior to joining UI Ventures, Allie spent six years as an inpatient nurse working on both the Burn ICU/Trauma Intermediate Unit, as well as the last four years in the Medical Intensive Care Unit. She also maintains membership in the STAR (Skin Team Advocate and Resource) shared governance committee. Allie received her ADN from Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids, IA, and her BSN and MSN from Western Governors University.

Learn more about the Nurse Innovators Program

Email: allison-hurt@uiowa.edu

Molly Kucera, MBAHC, RN, BSN, BS, CNAMB(E), CNOR

Associate Director, Ambulatory Surgery Center, University of Iowa Hospital and Clinics

With over two decades of experience in nursing and healthcare management, Molly has a proven track record in peri-operative management, quality improvement, and evidence-based practice initiatives. She holds a Master of Business Administration in Healthcare Management and is currently pursuing a Doctor of Nursing Practice at the University of Iowa. Molly is actively involved in various professional organizations and committees, including the American Organization for Nursing Leadership and the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses. She is dedicated to innovation and leadership in nursing.

Email: molly-kucera@uiowa.edu

Supporting nurses is our priority. Visit https://nursing.uiowa.edu/ionrp to explore our resources for new graduate nurses and beyond.

00:00:02 Nicole Weathers

You're listening to the Beyond Nurse Residency Podcast, an educational series where we interview experts on all topics related to the transition of new graduate nurses into practice and beyond. I'm your host, Nicole Weathers, director of the Iowa Online Nurse Residency program. Thanks for joining us. Let's jump in.

00:00:26 Nicole Weathers

Several years ago, I was learning about positive psychology and human flourishing when I came across the VIA character strengths assessment. This tool helps individuals identify their character strengths with the idea that leveraging these strengths at work can lead to flourishing. I found this exercise really fascinating as one of my top strengths were creativity, ingenuity and originality. Thinking of things and new ways is really a crucial part of who I am. I'm never really content with doing something the conventional way. If there's a better way possible.

Interestingly, though, this discovery wasn't all that surprising to people who knew me. They often joke that my mind is constantly a whirlwind of creative ideas, solutions, and potential inventions, even when no one is really asking for them. For example, many years ago while I was working the night shift, I adopted my first fur child. A old Yellow Lab, who loved to sleep in my bed. This was a problem, however, as she continued to interrupt my already terrible sleep. So to solve the issue of disrupted sleep like any nurse might, I repurposed our Ottoman placing at the foot of our bed and affectionately called it my ‘Dogoman’. So this was a simple yet effective solution that allowed my dog to sleep in my bed with me without taking up space.

00:01:47 Nicole Weathers

As my nursing career progressed, I found myself frequently thinking there's got to be a better way to do this, whether it was working at the bedside, educating diabetic patients, or developing strategies for onboarding and supporting new graduate nurses, I was always on the lookout for innovative solutions to improve patient care and streamline processes.

00:02:07 Nicole Weathers

I know I'm not alone in this episode. We'll explore why nurses are uniquely positioned to be innovative. How incorporating innovation into nurse residency programs could be pivotal for the future and the exciting initiatives from UI Ventures that are empowering nurse innovators. My goal for this episode is that our listeners will walk away with powerful insights and actionable steps they can take to improve their practice and integrate innovation into their everyday work and I'm very excited to introduce our guest today. So we have Allie and Molly as our guests. I'm going to ask each of them to tell us a little bit about themselves before we get into our questions for them today.

00:02:53 Nicole Weathers

So I'm not sure which one of you want to start, but first thank you so much for being here today. I'm really excited to jump into this conversation and I know I've got the chance to talk to both of you already about innovation and the really cool things that you guys are doing and I can't wait for our listeners to also hear about these great things. So how about Allie? Do you want to first start off?

00:03:18 Allie Hurt

Yes, thank you so much. Nicole. My name is Allie Hurt. I am the nurse innovator liaison working with UI Ventures and the Office of Innovation. I have about 8 years of nursing experience, six of them in the ICU. And I learned very early that nurses are constantly taking whatever they have in front of them to make that thing work.

00:03:42 Nicole Weathers

Thank you. And Molly, how about you?

00:03:45 Molly Kucera

Yeah. Hey, thanks for having us on today. We love innovation. So it's exciting to talk about this today. And my name is Molly Kucera. I am the associate director for the Ambulatory Surgery Center at the University of Iowa. And I also agree, you know, innovation is my love and passion. I think it's super fun to get with our frontline team and say, have you thought about an idea where you can improve your day or your patients day and so it's just been super exciting to work with some of our team here at the University and others outside of the University as we continue to expand.

00:04:22 Nicole Weathers

Excellent. Well, thank you for those introductions. I think it gives our listeners just kind of a good frame of reference as to where you guys are coming from.

00:04:32 Nicole Weathers

But I thought before we learn more about what you guys are doing at UIHC and the University that we should just kind of set the groundwork here a little bit, talking about nurses when it comes to innovation. So you know they're often described as natural innovators due to their frontline experience and problem solving skills. So maybe you guys could share your thoughts on why nurses are so, uniquely positioned to drive innovation in healthcare and how their daily interactions with patients and health systems really contribute to this innovative mindset.

00:05:07 Allie Hurt

I'm happy to start, so I really feel that nurses are ideally positioned to lead innovation. If you think about it, nurses are the last set of eyes, hands, brains before anything touches the patient. Products, policies, medications, whatever it may be, it passes through those nurses hands last. So why are we not?

00:05:28 Allie Hurt

Having more of a voice to talk about why devices are designed the way they are, why do they work the way that they do? Nurses have that experience working with different fields in healthcare.

00:05:41 Allie Hurt

Physicians, different therapies, different consulting teams, and they do seem to be that middleman between all those voices. And so they're really good at taking a bunch of information, whether it be bits of a care plan from different providers or just taking everything that's in a room and assessing, you know, what's not working here? The nurse sees everything that goes on in healthcare and I really do feel like they are. They're just ideally positioned being involved in every little piece of healthcare.

00:06:12 Allie Hurt

So I do feel like they are really just ideally positioned to be innovators. They're constantly using what's in front of them to meet the needs of the patient. And regardless if that's, you know, material modification process change, whatever it is, that nurse is going to figure it out to make it happen.

00:06:31 Molly Kucera

Yeah. And to spin off what Allie’s saying too, you know, they are that direct patient person that's interacting with the patient and can really just see what needs to happen and using the tools that are right there at their fingertips to make changes. They don't even think about it. They just do it.

00:06:48 Molly Kucera

I think all nurses really have that holistic perspective too. And so they're always looking at things from a different eye point than others would be. And I think that really helps them to consider other aspects that we wouldn't otherwise consider when we're looking at innovation and nurses are so adaptable. I think that's so important to remember.

00:07:09 Molly Kucera

You know, they're always encountering that unexpected situation where they have to think on their feet. They're just natural innovators because of that. And then they know how to collaborate with others. They know how to get other people together to solve problems.

00:07:22 Molly Kucera

And then they're just resourceful. You ask any nurse to do something and they will figure it out, probably within that next few minutes and tell you who needs to do it and how you can help them get it done. So I just think that, you know, nurses as innovators is where it's at.

00:07:38 Nicole Weathers

Well, as you guys are talking, it's like this whole systems perspective popped into my brain. The fact that they do, they are that connecting piece to all the different healthcare professions and not that other healthcare professionals can be system have that systems perspective.

00:07:54 Nicole Weathers

But as you guys both described, like nurses are really kind of at the root of that. And so it is so easy to see how all of these different things impact one another and how maybe this thing is causing this problem over here and they are quickly coming up with solutions which I think is great so.

00:08:14 Nicole Weathers

You know another piece of this? And of course, this is the Beyond Nurse Residency podcast. And so yeah, we talk about things beyond nurse residency, but I always like to touch on where these things sort of intersect with nurse residency as well. So as a big supporter of innovation, as a creative thinker being the core of who I am, I often wonder about integrating innovation into our nurse residency program and what that might look like, how that might impact outcomes in the future, whether it be for the new grad, the organization, or even the nursing profession. So I'd love to hear some thoughts from you guys about innovation with new nurses as they come into the profession and how you think that might look, what you think might be good actions to take there and how you think that might have some impact.

00:09:09 Molly Kucera

Well, I have a couple of things I could say about that that I've been thinking a lot about this actually because you know, when you set up this podcast with us, I was like, I wonder how you could actually use some of this information to take the program to your nurse residency programs, Nicole, and I know that we've talked before too, about.

00:09:29 Molly Kucera

Having some of the activities that we've done with innovation for online platforms because it's different when it's not in person.

00:09:36 Molly Kucera

But I think one of the biggest things is when working with new people is really just asking them to think outside the box. People think, especially in nursing, that it has to be a certain way has to be done a certain way because that's how we've learned is in process that it has to be done a certain way. And when we asked them to look at a specific item, we tell them there's no boundaries.

00:09:58 Molly Kucera

On this, we really just want you to, you know, think outside the box on this.

00:10:02 Molly Kucera

And I think really just having some kind of curriculum development would really help you a lot to get your people that are in the nurse residency program to, you know, think more have more problem solving and innovative ideas. I think also doing like project-based learning where you're taking some real-world things that are happening whether you ask the other DNP students or other professionals out there and bring those.

00:10:26 Molly Kucera

things in and ask them to find some real-world solutions for that, and then just really mentorship and collaboration. And I think so much of that as people think mentorship has to be right within nursing and it doesn't, it can be providing exposure to areas like engineering and IT and business and that really helps you to think about wow, how they did this at the computer software place is something that we could actually take here and make it work at, you know, within our hospital.

00:10:53 Molly Kucera

Even for us, engaging more with like our engineering students that are across the river in the college instead of just thinking that we have to have our nurses doing that and then like I said those competitions and hackathons, I think those are so fun and Allie can speak about those two more. But I know those are really fun because you bring out the competitive spirit in people and they get excited and then it gets others excited to want to do that too.

00:11:18 Allie Hurt

Absolutely. To tie back into what Molly said, I think that getting nurse residents involved in innovation is obviously kind of a challenge. They're not. They're new to the bedside. They're new to you. You know, the devices, the materials that are being used. But I think that that's the perfect time to get innovation into their minds. Early adoption is key. They're going to enter the workforce with that mindset already kind of loaded and ready to go, and they're going to see healthcare from that lens of I'm prepared to improve what's in front of me. I'm not going to just accept that we've always done it this way. I'm starting my career with an innovative mindset and I'm ready to make change from the get go. I've always thought that nurse residents and new grads are, they face the challenge of, well, they. They haven't really been a nurse before. How do you really know what the challenges are? Well, you are coming into this with such a fresh set of eyes that you can help us senior more senior nurses see challenges that we might not even see because it's always been done that way. So I do think that getting innovation even in the most basic level of it, doesn't have to be done this way. You can make change getting that into a new nurses mind early I think is absolutely pivotal to really letting the next wave of nurses just have this innovative mindset. Built in and that will, I think in my opinion, kind of change the future of what nurses are expected to do.

00:12:53 Nicole Weathers

Well, and I think this idea of embracing innovation is very important because, you know, I've been a nurse for nearly 20 years, and even though I I've always been intuitively creative and thinking about new and different ways, if that isn't embraced, like if I think of knowing different ways and people just squash that all the time, guess what? I'm going to stop thinking about new and different ways, and I'm going to stop thinking outside the box.

00:13:22 Nicole Weathers

So I think as you guys have already described, nurses are kind of naturally born to into this sort of mindset and they're these new grads especially are coming in with a fresh set of eyes. They're seeing things for the first time. And so we just want to make sure that we grab on to that from the get go and embrace that and encourage that.

00:13:42 Nicole Weathers

So that as they do begin, continue to build experience that they will bring that with them, right and that they will feel that level of engagement in these different these different change processes, whether it's a an innovation coming up with a invention or solution or it's just getting involved in things like evidence-based practice and quality improvement.

00:14:04 Molly Kucera

Yeah, I think that's important. What you just said too, Nicole, because I think sometimes we think of innovation as it has to be an improvement of a product right, or something that we're using on a patient, but it's not just that it can also be just like you said evidence-based or it can be looking at a policy or maybe it's how we staff our nurses on our unit. Innovation is not just about a piece of equipment or a new thing. It's really about like a different way of thinking.

00:14:32 Nicole Weathers

So I first met you, Molly, at the Iowa Organization of Nurse Leaders Conference. And you, you had a poster presentation on innovation and much of what we're going to talk about today. And you had a little activity that you did with the people who came up to the poster to get them thinking innovatively. And so that is actually.

00:14:53 Nicole Weathers

Something I don't know if you even know this, but that is something that we have reached out to others at UIHC and we have gotten permission to use that activity as part of our residency program. So we now have our new grads in our nurse residency program.

00:15:08 Nicole Weathers

Doing that as one activity during one of the months where we're talking about change and we're talking about being a leader from the bedside and we're talking about what that looks like to innovate and come up with different ideas. And so it's really new for us. But I think so far the residents were really like thinking about things a little bit differently, it's kind of a change in topic for them too from what we're used to covering in the residency program. And I, so I do think they really appreciate that new topic or a nurse residency program to engage in.

00:15:45 Molly Kucera

Yeah, that's awesome. So that card game that Nicole's talking about and Allie is very aware of this. 
 Is really one of our pioneers, I call her and she doesn't like to be called this, but I do. But Kirsten Hanrahan really is the person that I call our pioneer for the University of Iowa because she's really the one that started innovation and was like, hey, we got to do this and has really been spearheading this for us.

00:16:08 Molly Kucera

And so her and I had a podium presentation at the Magnet conference and when we went I said, I really like to take an activity with us so that you know, people have something to do, they have something to take home with them. And then they remember it more. And so that's really how this game came about is then we started working with Maker Health and ask them to give us some.

00:16:28 Molly Kucera

Ideas that we could put together for certain things and then people would, everybody would get a random card for this game, and they'd have to come up with something based on those things.

00:16:38 Molly Kucera

And you know, a lot of times, you know, especially when you go to a Magnet conference where you've got these, you know, really high level EBP thinkers, people are like, Oh my gosh, I have to, they think it has to be so complex and we're like, no, it actually can be anything. You can use that zip card or you can use that vending machine or you can use that whatever.

00:16:57 Molly Kucera

That we have on the cards and it's just been really fun for people to really take down those layers, like I said and think outside the box and we've had a lot of fun with this game and I'm so glad we created it.

00:17:10 Nicole Weathers

OK, so I think it's better and probably the last six months or so that I've noticed some posts on LinkedIn about UI Ventures and the Nurse Innovators Program, which of course immediately caught my attention because as we've already discussed, I love dreaming of new inventions or business ideas, things I wish existed in the world.

00:17:29 Nicole Weathers

So let's now move on to learning a little bit more about what this UI Ventures is all about and the Nurse Innovators Program and how it came to be.

00:17:40 Allie Hurt

Yes, yes. So UI Ventures is a branch of the Office of Innovation at the University of Iowa and UI Ventures itself, I believe, launched in about 2018. Traditionally, supporting faculty and staff, innovative startups, inventions, what have you. Traditionally, physicians and they've got a ton of experience supporting faculty and staff innovation and startups.

00:18:10 Allie Hurt

Well, back in about 2019 or so, I'm going to give Molly a lot of storytelling time here, but back in about 2019, the Department of Nursing and the Office of Innovation started talks and really were wondering if we put a few dollars behind these nurses and their ideas. Will they actually turn them into something?

00:18:30 Allie Hurt

And low and behold, Miss Molly came around, and we discovered that yes, nurses will do something if you put a little bit of money behind them.

00:18:39 Allie Hurt

So through UI Ventures, we acquired some grant funding and we launched the Nurse Innovators Program in August of 22. We have for the last 2 1/2 ish years been building a robust program at the University of Iowa supporting nurses, but not just nurses.

00:18:59 Allie Hurt

Supporting physical therapists, RT’s.

00:19:01 Allie Hurt

Really anybody with an idea and at this point we are expanding our efforts to nurses and staff across the state. So that is kind of the very down and dirty brief intro to the Nurse Innovators Program. But I would love to give Molly a chance to kind of share her experience in the early stages.

00:19:21 Nicole Weathers

Great. So Molly, tell us. So you are one of the inaugural nurses that were involved in the Nurse Innovators Program. So tell us about your experience. How did you get involved? What did you create? Where are things now?

00:19:36 Molly Kucera

Yeah. So I got involved because Kirsten Hanrahan, our pioneer. She and I met and she said, hey, I think you and these other two nurses would be a great group to go to this conference in Minnesota at the University of Minnesota innovators Group. And we're like, I'm like, OK, I don't know much about that, but I like innovation. So I'll go. So I went and it was right before COVID happened, like 2 weeks before. Really we got hit hard and we went up. There was super cool. They have like a library. They have an innovative space where you can go in there and innovate and. And they had this great presentation.

00:20:17 Molly Kucera

I got really excited and I came back and I said OK, I have this awesome project I would like to do and they said OK, here's some money to go do it. And so I worked with the tooling company in Cedar Rapids called Master Tool.

00:20:30 Molly Kucera

And myself and another charge nurse designed a hood helmet holder for some surgical helmets that we used during surgery during total joints, and we call it the Hawkeye Hood holder. And so we worked with that tooling company, had them come and they had to, you know, gown and glove up and get all.

00:20:49 Molly Kucera

You know, protective wear on and they came into our environment and I remind you that it was a tooling company, right, non-healthcare, they came in, they worked with us, they got our vision. It was so exciting. They even put a little Herky emblem on the side of it.

00:21:06 Molly Kucera

And we still use it today. We did have one prototype done and then we did had to do a little bit of a modification on it. And then we've just been working with a couple companies to sell off the patent so that it can go into production. So it was a great experience and really fun and we like to share that with others.

00:21:28 Nicole Weathers

Wow, that is. I mean, you make it sound so simple. Like I came up with this idea. I worked with this tool company and now we're selling the patent. I'm sure there was a lot more to it than that.

00:21:39 Nicole Weathers

That that's really amazing though, to hear how much you've been able to accomplish that, you took it from going to a conference and I came up with this idea to that point of patenting. So maybe we should take a step back now and just kind of learn a little bit more about, like, how you worked with the Nurse Innovators Program. What the Nurse Innovators Program actually does to support you through that process. And how you get this from idea to patenting.

00:22:12 Allie Hurt

Yes, so initially a nurse will identify a challenge, typically something they've been frustrated with for a while. Often times I'm presented with challenges that have been faced for, you know, 10 years or longer, and the nurse has never had a pathway or really any means to fix said issue. They've just been dealing with it.

00:22:35 Allie Hurt

And once they present that challenge to me, we have a virtual relationship with the Maker 
 Health team and we set up a video consult. Their team, helps provide prototyping expertise as well as materials to begin experimenting with. So during that video call, we will have a quick conversation about your challenge. And start discussing your first round of experiments. You receive that custom creation kit, which typically is materials from early stage. Typically, materials from like Target, Walmart, Michaels. As you get further through the program, we often will send you know 3D printed parts, laser cut parts, depending on what your project needs.

00:23:18 Allie Hurt

And once you receive those materials, you start completing experiments and prototyping, either on your own, with a team of your own nurses or with myself, and we will start figuring out what works and what doesn't work with the experiments that we've conducted. After that, we will have repeated video calls. With repeated kits sent. And experiments completed until you end up with essentially a functional prototype that you can hold in your hand.

00:23:46 Allie Hurt

At that stage we will typically send the nurse, we’ll graduate the nurse from the Maker Health portion of the program, and then they get to enter our network of resources within the Office of Innovation to take their project to the next stage.

00:24:03 Allie Hurt

Throughout the Nurse Innovators Program, the nurse is constantly being kind of reminded of their funding opportunities that happen once a year. So we've got an annual pitch contest that the nurse can compete in to win some funding to take their projects to that patent stage. That manufacturing stage and further, so it's really kind of a back-and-forth process until you end up with a functional prototype.

00:24:28 Nicole Weathers

So, I know too that there is an opportunity beyond, so like Molly, for instance, she got to this point where she now we're trying to sell the patent, but there is the opportunity, like if Molly wanted to turn her Hawkeye Hood holder into a business entrepreneurial type of business that that's also an option.

00:24:49 Allie Hurt

Yes, yes. So, UI Ventures traditionally does support any innovation that happens within the University, including those startups. So, if you were a nurse who did wish to start a company, you would receive support through UI Ventures.

00:25:04 Allie Hurt

Through starting that company and then beyond, we have companies that have kind of branched out of the U years and years ago. But our team is still following up and verifying that things are still going, successfully assisting with funding opportunities in the future. So yeah, if a nurse desires to start a company, they would still have the full breadth of resources through the University as well.

00:25:26 Nicole Weathers

Because I think, I mean that's a I guess a big reason why this program even exists. So maybe I'm saying the obvious. But you know, nurses are naturally innovative. They're coming up with solutions. It's like, yeah, we could, you know, duct tape this thing together and make it work as far as taking it beyond that. Like, where do you even start? Where do you even begin? Who do you need to talk to? What's a patent? How do I file that? Like, all of the things? And so, I mean, I think that's what's so cool about.

00:25:54 Nicole Weathers

This program is that that's exactly what your job is, right? Is to help educate them about these things, give them the guidance, make those connections. And so while maybe a nurse could do this independently.

00:26:08 Nicole Weathers

It likely would maybe take much longer time than connecting with an organization like yourself to get from point. From that idea to that that prototype to that patent or business or what wherever they end up.

00:26:24 Molly Kucera

Yeah. I would say to, Nicole, before we started the official, like when Allie came on board in 22, you know we it wasn't as streamlined as it is now because you know we were trying to figure everything out and still for me it was amazing because I still had these resources of people that had the knowledge that I didn't know what to do like you said.

00:26:44 Molly Kucera

About the patent and really the legal work that goes around that what you can share and what you can't share when you meet with companies.

00:26:51 Molly Kucera

And the UI Ventures team really just showed up for us during that time and continue to show up for us. And I think that's just amazing that we have that for our nursing team that a lot of hospitals don't have. And I just think it's so cool that we have that here. The other thing I was going to say to you about projects too, I think and kind of spun off what Allie was saying is yes, these nurses get to do their own kits, right? Everybody gets to have their own kit now and work on their own project and and just remember that it's inspired by each person's background. Right. Like, so for me on my project.

00:27:26 Molly Kucera

I like ergonomics, so there were certain things I wanted to make sure that our product was easy for the nurses to push around. That's why it was designed from like an IV pole. And so certain things like that, I think it's important too that all of these projects and innovation in general is really inspired by people's background and what they've already learned in their life so.

00:27:48 Nicole Weathers

Well, and I think you know maybe now would be a good time too to have you share some other examples of maybe projects that you've had the opportunity to support, because I think another sort of misconception sometimes is that it has to be some like.

00:28:05 Nicole Weathers

Wild and crazy high-tech solution and I know from past times where we visited you've had some really great examples of simple everyday things that are truly innovative and really going to make a difference in patient care.

00:28:21 Allie Hurt

Yeah, absolutely. We started this thinking that nurses were going to come up with Hawkeye Hood holders and that it was going to be really big crazy projects, and we discovered that it's not all crazy big projects we have, you know, the ever-lying issue of cord control that will never be truly, truly solved everywhere, right? We have a nurse who was driven to solve cord control in her area after witnessing a staff member trip on cords and suffer an injury and that led her to really be driven to refuse to accept that as a solution. The current method was taping cords up or attempting to kind of shove them into the side of the bed rail and it just didn't work. And so, she was driven to say there is a better solution out there and through working with Maker Health, we have established a device that will better.

00:29:21 Allie Hurt

manage cords and help get them out of a foot traffic area to prevent staff from tripping and falling. We've also seen a lot really, Molly, the OR is so innovative.

00:29:34 Allie Hurt

There's so much work to be done in the OR and so many nurses in the OR are really coming forward and saying this isn't working. Let's come up with something better, whether it's a, a drape to cover a surface, whether it's cord control to better manage that and prevent falls. We're definitely seeing ideas in every facet of health care or really nursing and we're seeing communication devices that will be kind of you know, low tech hanging on the wall in a patient room. But we're also seeing ideas that will require a technological component. So, there is the opportunity to be connecting these nurses with other resources as well, software resources.

00:30:18 Allie Hurt

Other manufacturers down the line that may have more resources than even we do, so the idea is, you know, kind of start small but also may start big. And really nurses are able to innovate at the entire spectrum of complexity, I guess is what I would say.

00:30:36 Nicole Weathers

Well, I think the one communication tool example that you've showed before relates to daily cares for patients, right? So, a simple simple-ish topic, I guess and really that one you showed that it sort of started us thinking that it had to be this high tech.

00:30:56 Nicole Weathers

Thing with lights and all of this and that actually as you've went through that iterative process, you've actually came up with a more simple solution that doesn't have all the high tech electronic components and that is just a simple thing that can hang on the wall, which is just amazing to sort of see.

00:31:14 Nicole Weathers

Because I know I'm not alone when a lot of people do think that it has to be high tech, or that there has to be that technological component, and really that's just not the case. Even with your cord control device, it doesn't look like much when you look at it. But when you see it put to use, it's like, oh wow, that is that's really neat.

00:31:35 Allie Hurt

It really makes you think, Dang, if only I had thought of that.

00:31:39 Nicole Weathers

So, what does that look like? Because I know that there is always that worry that I'm gonna talk about this great idea that I have and then somebody's going to, you know, snatch it up and do it themselves quicker or faster. So, what sort of like, I guess, protection do you have in place as you work with nurses in this area?

00:32:00 Allie Hurt

So, there is an understanding of if you've got a good idea, don't tell anybody too many good details. Keep that to yourself. You're of course welcome to, you know, share with your colleagues that you're working on something cool. But I would really keep, you know, keep the details to yourself if you want it to be yours.

00:32:21 Allie Hurt

Molly, do you have anything super insightful to go off of there?

00:32:26 Molly Kucera

No, I we went to Allie and I went to a a day conference and innovative conference here in town. And one of the speakers, he's an innovator and he came up with this really cool thing with and he's a provider. So it was it was it a I think for an eye.

00:32:42 Molly Kucera

And he told us. He said, wait, now I'm going to stop you. I don't want you to over share too much information. He goes. That's the issue with nurses. You guys want to tell everybody your ideas and then somebody else takes your ideas. So, you know, we're so as nurses. We're like, oh, let's do this. Let's get it done. Let's get a whole bunch of people together and then.

00:33:02 Molly Kucera

You know, somebody could steal your idea until you get a patent for it so.

00:33:07 Nicole Weathers

But I assume this program helps sort of protect some of that. So, if I Nicole reached out to Allie and said I want to create a ‘Dogoman.’

00:33:15 Allie Hurt

Your secrets safe with me.

00:33:18 Nicole Weathers

OK, the secret is safe with the Office of Innovation and the UI Ventures Group. I'm sure I don't know if something gets signed or what that looks like, but there's at least some sort of policy or procedure in place that would protect anybody who might want to reach out to you with an idea.

00:33:33 Allie Hurt

Absolutely. It is your idea. Unless you go public with it.

00:33:39 Molly Kucera

We did have a gal that was an occupational therapist, and she was one of our startups and she was making a sling for patients that after they had surgery, they have a lot of swelling in the scrotum. And so, she, when we came to her, she was kind of like, I don't know if I can tell you guys because I don't want you to steal my idea. So, there was a little bit of trust.

00:34:00 Molly Kucera

Building that did occur there, and because at her first meeting we went to the floors when we first started up and just did like some open hour times, working one-on-one, with nurses on certain units.

00:34:11 Molly Kucera

And this person had was like, yes, I actually do have an idea. And I'm currently sewing these myself at home. And so. And they were making a really big difference for having mobility with patients that were otherwise not able to get up and out of bed because of the discomfort that was being created. And so right at that meeting.

00:34:31 Molly Kucera

Actually, that was when we first started working with Maker Health. We set, had her sit down and get on a call with Maker Health, then with Anna, and they quickly.

00:34:41 Molly Kucera

Built that trust and that product is now out there and I don't know where she's at in the stages of it, but Allie I could probably tell you, but it's been a really neat success story that wasn't specific nursing but within nursing.

00:34:55 Allie Hurt

She's working on pilot testing.

00:34:58 Molly Kucera

There you go.

00:34:58 Allie Hurt

Yep, they're still.

00:34:59 Allie Hurt

Working on it and she's still making good progress.

00:35:03 Allie Hurt

But yeah, a perfect example of. It's definitely not just the nurses that are experiencing these pain points at the point of care. It is definitely any staff that is experiencing the frontline that could be respiratory, that could be, you know, your physical and occupational friends, but it it's really anybody with an idea that we are happy to support.

00:35:25 Allie Hurt

And we believe that, you know, change deserves to be made.

00:35:30 Nicole Weathers

So, if I'm a nurse leader or a nursing professional development specialist and I'm listening to this and I'm like, Oh my goodness, I want to do start something related to innovation in my organization.

00:35:46 Nicole Weathers

Where? Where would you say is a good place for these folks to start?

00:35:52 Allie Hurt

Reach out to me. I am the first point of contact. If you reached out to Molly or Kirsten, or really anybody else within the university, they would direct you to me. I'm typically the first line to start the conversation about what you're challenges that you've identified, and then through me is typically how you'll schedule a video consult.

00:36:13 Allie Hurt

To start the conversation with Maker Health as well, we also.

00:36:20 Allie Hurt

If you reach out to me, then I'm happy to schedule any sort of a pop-up event at your facility. Specifically, if you are an outside facility or if you are, say, a nurse within a unit at the university, we could schedule an event on your unit specifically and kind of target our innovation to your.

00:36:40 Allie Hurt

Environment. So it's not that we're solving an OR challenge in you know on a neuro floor. We're we're trying to give you examples to really help you embrace innovation in your space.

00:36:52 Allie Hurt

But the quickest, easiest way would be to get a hold of me.

00:36:55 Nicole Weathers

So, what I hear you saying and I just want to reiterate this for our listeners, is that even though maybe I am not a part of the University of Iowa, if I live in the state of Iowa, I have access to these resources.

00:37:10 Allie Hurt

Absolutely. Our grant is funding us to take our resources to nurses and staff across the state we discover.

00:37:20 Allie Hurt

Heard that again, not just in Iowa City, really. Everywhere. Nurses are an integral part of the fabric of a community, and specifically the rural communities in this state that don't see near as many resources. Absolutely these resources are available to every nurse in the state of Iowa.

00:37:41 Allie Hurt

And that includes in person support, virtual support and full innovation support. We would like to support nurses from Sioux City down to the Quad Cities and Dubuque down to the Lower West Corner and everywhere in between.

00:37:58 Nicole Weathers

So a lot of our listeners also reside outside of the state of Iowa and maybe even outside of the US so I know we've got some friends from Canada who listen. What do you know about things outside of the state?

00:38:13 Allie Hurt

I think the big thing regarding innovating outside of the state.

00:38:18 Allie Hurt

It is to be persistent. I personally do not know of programs similar to ours outside of the state, but that doesn't mean that a nurse can't start one. The this all started with people conversing about whether or not innovation would be successful, and so you start that own conversation at your own facility.

00:38:40 Allie Hurt

Maker Health is our contracted outside partner. You're welcome to contact them directly and maybe you can get a program like ours started at your own facility.

00:38:49 Allie Hurt

But if you're.

00:38:49 Allie Hurt

Within the state of Iowa, we would love to support you.

00:38:54 Nicole Weathers

So, before we sort of start to wrap things up, I guess, what about innovation have I not asked you about or have we not talked about that you think would be important for our listeners to hear?

00:39:09 Molly Kucera

I think take your ideas to the next step and the next level like you don't know that it's not a possibility until you've tried. You know, my mom was having surgery at another facility and the nurses like made something for her face because she was having nasal surgery.

00:39:27 Molly Kucera

And I was like, oh, you're an innovator. Let me get you Allie's name and number so you can send it to her, and she can provide you with some help. And I just think people, they don't take you up on the offer and people should just really take you up on the offer that their ideas could become reality. And it's so cool.

00:39:47 Molly Kucera

To be part of something that others can use and make.

00:39:51 Molly Kucera

Life better for themselves as nurses or like I said for the.

00:39:54 Molly Kucera

Patient as well.

00:39:55 Allie Hurt

Well and to bounce off what Molly said. They always tell you in school there's no such thing as a stupid question. And if you're having that question, I'm sure a bunch of other people are too. Well, it relates to innovation and pretty much the same way if you're sick of something, you're definitely not the only one facing that same challenge. And so definitely.

00:40:16 Allie Hurt

Like Molly said, speak up. Don't be afraid to be persistent, to be pushy and really.

00:40:22 Allie Hurt

Try and make change if you believe that there is a way to do something better. Be vocal, talk to your leadership and get them to see your side of things.

00:40:33 Nicole Weathers

Awesome. Well, we've talked about a lot of really great things today. We've talked about why nurses are natural born innovators. We've talked about the kind of importance of maybe nurse residency programs moving towards integrating this as a competency or topic area of their residency programs, and we've talked about the amazing work that Molly and Allie have done together through UI Ventures and Molly's amazing Hawkeye Hood holder, which just is so cool to know somebody who has taken a idea.

00:41:10 Nicole Weathers

To fruition and has gotten it as far as Molly has gotten it. So, I just want to say thank you for sharing all of this great information and for being a guest today. But before we go.

00:41:22 Nicole Weathers

I do have one.

00:41:24 Nicole Weathers

Last question and I asked this of all of our guests and I'm really interested to hear what you guys have to say. But when it comes to engaging nurses in innovation, what's one thing that you see organizations doing that you think makes a significant difference?

00:41:43 Nicole Weathers

And maybe along with those lines, what do you wish more organizations were doing?

00:41:49 Allie Hurt

I would say that the organizations that do believe their nurses and do support them in taking time to focus on innovation.

00:42:05 Allie Hurt

Those are the successful projects, the nurses who have leadership that backs them, that believes that their change-making is important, that believes that this is important for professional development and the growth of the unit and the growth of the staff.

00:42:21 Allie Hurt

Those are the organizations and the units and the people that are the most successful in seeing these ideas come to fruition and make change in their environments. And I wish that more organizations just of course, automatically knew about this program. But I think more specifically, I wish more organizations had the mindset of change is coming. Nurses are change makers. Let's support them and I think it's that backing from the leadership that really does give the nurses the encouragement to focus on new and better instead of just the way things have always been. So definitely I think the buy in from leadership is huge.

00:43:08 Nicole Weathers

And I think I would maybe even add to that that the value back from that belief in the nurses is huge, right. So, if as an organization as an organizational leader, I believe in this nurse, I support their passion for fixing or solving whatever problem they're faced with, that is going to come back in positive outcomes to the organization tenfold. I mean, I have 0 research or evidence to back up that statement, but I truly believe that when you believe and support nurses, it's going to come right back to you.

00:43:50 Molly Kucera

Yeah, and that's what I was going to say to, Nicole, that's all about retention. You know, when nurses feel supported, they're more likely to stay in an organization and that that is backed by evidence, you know, AONL just has done a lot of studies recently on these type of things and.

00:44:06 Molly Kucera

You know the actual American Nurses Association in the past couple of years has hired a VP of Innovation. And so, people can find a lot of great resources there. If they're outside of the state of Iowa and then, you know, as you were saying, what would we say? And that I'm, I really say what Allie had said there, too, just invest in your nurses.

00:44:26 Molly Kucera

Financially and provide them with the support and time so that they can move projects forward, whatever their idea is.

00:44:34 Molly Kucera

And I think that will that really has been found to increase retention and overall happiness in an organization from nurses when they feel like they're supported by their leaders. And we know that happiness upon workers actually has a trickledown effect to the patient that is studied. And so, I think it just.

00:44:54 Molly Kucera

All relates in a big circle of supporting nurses who support patients, and it can make better outcomes for patients as well.

00:45:04 Nicole Weathers

Excellent. Well, thank you both Molly and Allie, for joining us today on this episode of Beyond Nurse Residency Podcast. I know I learned a great deal every time I talk to you. I'm like, I get more and more excited about some of the innovative ideas that are floating around in my head, and I can only imagine that our listeners are feeling the same way.

00:45:22 Molly Kucera

Thanks for having us today. It's been fun to talk to you and like Allie said, Allie's your main contact. If you can't find her, you can reach me and Nicole, you can provide Allie’s and my e-mail address with the podcast. That's fine with us and we're happy to be here today and I appreciate the time.

00:45:42 Nicole Weathers

Yes, we will definitely include your contact information in the show notes, along with maybe the link to the UI Ventures website and any other links that you might want us to share.

00:45:58 Allie Hurt

Absolutely. Thank you so much, Nicole, for inviting us. This was wonderful. Excited to share innovation, excited to get to know more of the nurses across the state. And again, like Molly said, if you've got an idea, don't hesitate. We are excited to work with you and to help you make change.

00:46:17 Nicole Weathers

Wait before you go, I want to make sure you know all about our suite of resources you can use to support your new graduate nurses. This includes our Academy, a coaching program design for organizations as they prepare for the implementation, and ongoing sustainability of a nurse residency program.

00:46:36 Nicole Weathers

Work one-on-one with residency program experts to make sure your organization is residency ready.

00:46:42 Nicole Weathers

Our clinician well-being course is an asynchronous online course that aims to enhance the well-being and resiliency of healthcare professionals, equipping them with the necessary psychological capital to navigate challenges inside and outside of work. Supporting nurses is another asynchronous online course for preceptors, mentors and coaches.

00:47:02 Nicole Weathers

To learn the skills they need to support any new hire.

00:47:05 Nicole Weathers

Both of these offerings can be used as a standalone professional development opportunity or to augment any nurse residency program. And we can't forget about the program that started it all. The online Nurse residency program. This includes a comprehensive curriculum designed to support new graduate nurses, applying all the knowledge they learned in school.

00:47:26 Nicole Weathers

To their practice, we focus on professional skills, personal well-being competencies, and new graduate nurses even get the opportunity to create real change in their own organization.

00:47:37 Nicole Weathers

Offered completely online and in a blended format, this program is highly adaptable to all clinical practice settings. You can learn more about all of these programs and more of what we offer using the links in the show notes below.