CLEVELAND, OH — Cleveland Clinic stresses the importance of nurses in the healthcare system’s success as it approaches its centennial anniversary in 2021.
Their contributions, however, go beyond clinical competence. Through research and innovation, Cleveland Clinic nurses work to define their profession and the larger healthcare landscape.
The clinic’s Nursing Research and Innovation division has grown from a one-person support department to a thriving office directed by ACNO Nancy Albert Ph.D., CCNS, CHFN, CCRN, NE-BC, FAAN.
Albert and a team of five nurse scientists help nurses perform, translate, and disseminate research that improves clinical and administrative practices while also facilitating evidence-based practices to improve patient outcomes.
“For Cleveland Clinic to be a leading hospital in the country, with a leading nursing institute, we can’t rely on others to develop the science and foundation that form our practices,” says Albert. “We need to be an integral part of the development process.”
More than 900 nursing research initiatives were started across the Cleveland Clinic Health System between 2004 and 2020, and there were over 100 ongoing nursing research initiatives just last year.
The impact of the aesthetic atmosphere in the OR on the association between exercise volume and COVID-19 disease severity are just a few of the topics covered.
At any given time, between 2% and 5% of Cleveland Clinic’s 28,000 nurse caregivers will lead or participate in the conduct of a nursing research project. They are supported in a variety of ways by the Office of Nursing Research and Innovation. A nurse scientist mentor is assigned to each researcher.
Nurses also have access to an intranet website that includes a research database as well as templates, checklists, forms, and information on planning, conducting, and disseminating, and translating finished research.
Online instructional modules, workshops, internal nursing research and literature review funds, statisticians, and an art and photography department are among the other tools available.
“We support nurses from the inception of a research question all the way through dissemination in a peer-review journal and translation or implementation into practice,” says Albert.
Cleveland Clinic nurses are authors of over 200 published research papers between 2012 and 2020, with 88 of them serving as first authors.
The office also encourages innovation, as its name implies.
“We believe every single Nursing Institute employee can support innovation, whether they come up with a clever idea or raise awareness of an issue that happens repeatedly and could minimize patient care or decrease the effectiveness of what we do day in and day out,” she added.
“Part of our job is to let nurses know what resources are available and help them understand that it’s everybody’s job to use their voice, communicate ideas, and foster innovation.”
In the Office of Nursing Research and Innovation, a part-time innovation coordinator assists nurses in putting their ideas on paper and submitting them to Cleveland Clinic Innovations (CCI), the healthcare system’s commercialization arm.
If an idea progresses to the prototyping stage, the Office of Research and Innovation collaborates with nurses to conduct a thorough evaluation of the project’s usefulness. Market analysts, subject matter specialists, patent attorneys, and previous medical industry leaders make up CCI’s dedicated team.
While other healthcare systems encourage nursing research and innovation, Albert believes Cleveland Clinic is a pioneer in the industry due to a number of criteria. First and foremost, Albert and the other nurse scientists are all PhD-educated and have extensive research experience.
Furthermore, Cleveland Clinic’s nurse scientists devote their time to research and evidence-based practice rather than side projects that have little impact on laying a scientific foundation.
“They devote all of their time to their craft, which allows them to get better at what they do and offer high-quality services with less need for revisions,” says Albert. As a result, the mentored nurses can devote more time to implementing their research projects rather than drafting and revising them in advance.
Finally, and perhaps most crucially, Cleveland Clinic executives are enthusiastic supporters of research and development.
“Our Nursing Institute leaders understand the value that new knowledge and science brings to Cleveland Clinic patients and nursing teams. They share their enthusiasm for nursing research projects and encourage and support our nurses to be successful,” says Albert. “Leaders also understand the value of innovative ideas and bringing innovations to life. And because they understand the value of our programs, we are able to truly support the nurses we serve.”
The Office of Research and Innovation is interviewing candidates for a sixth nurse scientist post as Cleveland Clinic enters its second century of providing world-class patient care.
It also intends to enhance the number of high-quality research projects that nurses generate and share to strengthen nursing’s foundation.
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