Phoenix and the World --

There is little doubt that healthcare needs change.  Long waits, the uninsured, poor care, and lack of innovation all have made the news in recent months.  A new program at Arizona State University College of Nursing & Healthcare Innovation plans to change all that.

The first Cohort of the Masters In Healthcare Innovation are getting ready to hit the workforce with a bang.  "We are going to change the world as we know it," says Dan Nienhauser, one of the innovative students.  "Healthcare needs change, and we are going to do it."  Attitudes like this run rampant in the program according to Dr. Kathy Malloch, the program director. 

The students in the program take a wide range of courses.  From the theory of innovation and creating change, to finance and healthcare policy, these graduates will have the tools, experience, and contacts to go out into the healthcare world and shake things up. 

"I want to rattle some of the traditions that hold back healthcare," says Dan Weberg, a program student nicknamed MacGyver.  "This program has freed me from the past and allows me to look to the future.  Now I believe anything can be done, I have the tools to do them."

Its little doubt that these students will change the world.  With faculty mentors like Dr Tim Porter-O'Grady, Dr Kathy Malloch, Dr. Kathy Scott, and Sandra Davidson, the power to make things happen is strong. 

The Leadership of Innovation: Sustaining the Path to Excellence

It goes without saying that clinical and technological innovations in healthcare in the past 25 years have grown at a quantum rate.  The transformation of clinical healthcare technologies and interventions has outstripped almost every other aspect of health service.  The problem is, however, that while the technology of intervention has been enhanced, the quality of the health of the nation has not.  The recent report of the Commonwealth Fund (Schoen, 2006), comparing the United States health status with the health status of other major Western nations was certainly strong testament to the fact that there is little relationship between the innovation of clinical intervention and the quality of health of the people of the United States.  Apparently, for all the high cost and intensity of innovation related to clinical intervention, such innovation has done nothing to measurably alter the major indicators of the overall health of the people of the nation.

This reality raises the question regarding the relationship between leadership and innovation in healthcare.  As faculty was conceiving the framework for the Masters of Health Innovation program, the emphasis on leadership was affirmed as a foundation for the program's design.  Faculty observed that there was a great deal of innovation unfolding in healthcare, yet, not much of it reflected coordination of the intersection between innovation and public policy, priorities, systems, governance, and social and human dynamics (Brown & Ulijn, 2004).  It is here where the elements of leadership make a significant difference and do the necessary work to assure that the choices, direction, priorities, and applications of technology and innovation in healthcare create both an environment for relevant creativity, and innovation that actually improves the overall health and quality of life of the US and the global community.

Preparing leaders in health care innovation means assuring that they can assume roles of leadership in a wide variety of positions in healthcare systems, agencies, and institutions.  These innovation leadership roles should provide opportunities for influencing the activities of innovation and more importantly, creating infrastructures of innovation in ways that influence organizations in their very way of doing business.  While innovators focus on the content of innovation, innovation leaders focus on creating the context for innovation.  In this way, these leaders assure that the myriad choices and circumstances influencing innovation unfold in a way that positively influences health innovations that make a real difference.  These leaders create innovative environments to challenge the creative life of people and organizations and help assure that innovation is not simply an event; that it is, instead, a way of life.

The Masters of Health Innovation degree in the College of Nursing and Healthcare Innovation at Arizona State University is unique in the United States in both its focus and design for preparing innovation leaders for the future.  It makes sense that the program is housed in a college of nursing since nurses both reflect the culture of the health organization and operate at its very core (ANCC, 2005).  In addition, its interdisciplinary faculty and student body also affirm the partnerships necessary to effect creativity in innovation.  The program faculty is excited to be a part of this innovative program in healthcare leadership and expects the graduates of this program to truly change the world.

ANCC. (2005). American Nurses Credentialing Center: Best practices in today's challenging health care environment. Washington, DC.: American Nurses Publishing.

Brown, T. E., & Ulijn, J. M. (2004). Innovation, entrepreneurship and culture : the interaction between technology, progress and economic growth. Northampton, MA: Elgar Publishing.

Schoen, C. (2006). Measuring up: A comprehensive scorecard for America's health system (Report). Washington, DC: Commonwealth Fund.

When considering any innovative solution the ASU MHI students have been encouraged by our instructor Kathy Malloch to ask ourselves "what problem are you solving?" The innovative use of Skype to connect a nurse educator to newborn nursery nurses in the middle of the night was the answer to a significant problem.

Our rural hospital was experienced a sudden decrease in the number of experienced nurses in our newborn nursery on the night shift. Several new staff had been hired and were orienting on the night shift when for various reasons several of their experienced "mentors" had to relocate to other geographical areas. This group included a nurse educator who had been working diligently to assist these new staff members to learn appropriate skills and confidence in caring for newborns.

The nurse executive called upon me to utilize my developing "innovation" skills to come up with a solution to connect the educator with the night nursery staff from a distance. This spurred an idea to cross pollinate the use of Skype in an educational venue.

The following prototype was quickly assembled, tested and continues to be evaluated. A portable Computer on Wheels (COW) was allocated from a nursing unit that had recently updated to stationary computers in patient rooms. Skype and video camera software was downloaded onto the COW. Experimentation was conducted to allow viewing of newborns for coaching regarding assessments and IV site condition. The nursing staff has been very excited to have the opportunity to continue to have their trusted mentor available to coach and assist them with assessment skills in the middle of the night.

Environmental Sustainability in Healthcare Requires Innovative Approaches

A long standing passion, combined with social, economic and political pressures, have come together in a small hospital in Montana to yield an interesting exploration of current environmental impacts and future possibilities as a response to this complicated problem. 

Background:  Health care has had a significant negative environmental impact in the US.  Some aspects are unavoidable; hospitals must be 24-7 operations, they must maintain high levels of cleanliness and in some cases sterility, they must protect patient information.  These features add challenges/opportunities to the questions of decreasing carbon footprint and environmental impact.  Traditionally, health care has been a significant contributor of mercury toxicity in the environment.  This has gotten a lot of press and many institutions have tried to reduce their mercury contribution by replacing mercury sphygmomanometers, endoscopy equipment, fluorescent lights, etc.  Another toxin healthcare has contributed is dioxin, which is released on the creation and destruction of PVC plastics, which are used abundantly in health care.  Some facilities are purchasing PVC free plastic.  But, most are still faced with using a high level of plastic because of the needs to maintain sterility.  Waste reduction is a constant challenge.  Hospitals have three common types of solid waste; regular, biomedical and hazardous.  Each must be handled carefully, tracked and are highly regulated.  It is also very expensive for hospitals to dispose of the biomedical and hazardous wastes.  Medical waste is regulated at the state level, and these vary. 

At this hospital in Montana, a number of things have come together.  The hospital has a history of being energy efficient, with several innovative technologies in place.  The community is a national center for environmental activism, with many non-profit groups that work on issues in the local ecosystem and beyond. The administration of the hospital is interested in the hospital's impacts, and in late 2007, the regional director of the hospital system asked each hospital to evaluate their environmental impacts and report back on possible changes.   

In 2008, the staff have written into the strategic plan goals for 2008, guiding principles for decision making, and ongoing goals for the next 3-5 years.  They also are conducting various events to engage employees, board and the community. These include a 6 week roll out of educational events to reinforce recycling, reduce plastic bottle use (by giving away stainless steel bottles), a focus on energy issues (the hospital recently won the Energy Star award), a look at toxins in health care, a focus on paper use, and finally carbon footprint, which will coincide with a city wide athletic shoe recycling attempt.  (Nike will take them and grind them up into asphalt)

A current MHI student, I have been integrally involved in these efforts, as it has been a long standing personal interest.  I have seen my own interest and energy for it coincide with the cultural and economic changes that are making this issue more viable for hospitals and other businesses.  Much of what I have learned in the MHI program has helped me to understand the factors that influence cultural and individual change, that affect timing, that help create readiness.  Health care is very complicated, and change, though constant, is not easy, especially as we try to create sustainable systems based on sound principles of fairness, using innovation and elegance in design and implementation. 

For more on healthcare and environmental concerns, please visit:

Healthcare Without Harm

Hospitals for a Healthy Environment

Healthcare innovators are not commonly thought of as being philosophical, practical, or pragmatic.  Surprisingly, we recently displayed these characteristics and still remained true to our innovative leadership souls.

Our task was to choose a color for the Master of Healthcare Innovation hood.  We originally chose a blue and purple tie dye but, after meeting with the Mistress of Ceremonies, we were informed that anything like that would be a special order and extremely costly.  We also anticipated that our cutting edge choice might attract the ASU axe. Since we are representing the very first graduating class for a degree of this designation, graduating classes in the future from other universities will be wearing our color on their hoods.  Our choice now would affect future legions of innovative leaders. The selection of a color could not be taken lightly.   

But let us return to the tale of the 3 Little Ps. 

Philosophical - could also be termed "rationalization" by cynics. There are no coincidences. Everything happens for a reason.  Our color makes the symbolic statement that we have started on the right path.

Practical - our initial color choices were taken from paint samples borrowed from a local Ace Hardware. They seemed indigenous to our southwestern setting, and they contrasted well with the ASU burgundy and gold. Our choices were also acceptable to the varying fashion senses of men and women. 

Pragmatic - despite our elaborate preparations, we were left in the end with a choice of just two remaining colors because they were the only ones not yet taken by a degree tract -- fluorescent lime green and teal.  The available teal just happened to match the teal paint sample from Ace Hardware that was the teal color chosen by our classmates.  However, it seems that we were fated to select this particular teal to represent our degree. 

The name of the color is "Fast Fortune."

Day of Innovation: The beginning of a statewide Simulation Program

Phoenix- Over 60 educators, nurses, hospital administrators, and healthcare experts gathered for A Day of Innovation, sponsored by AZHHA and the AZ Board of Nursing.  The goal: To envision a way to provide resources for Human Patient Simulation for the state of Arizona.  Our own MHI students helped Facilitate the project.  Dr. Kathy Malloch gave an inspiring talk on the Ten Faces of Innovation, and Dan Weberg facilitated table discussions and brainstorming.

When the dust settled the consensus was to move forward with creating a state system.  There was also a board where participants could write down Bold Requests, something they wanted from others to start this program, or Bold Offers.  Our own Dan Weberg offered to lead the future of this project.  "I think the MHI program has given me the tools to help lead this project.  Now its time to try it out and create something great!" says Dan.  Stay Tuned for some interesting developments.