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SearchCleveland Clinic's Nursing Institute hosted an ideation session where 20+ nursing and pharmacy caregivers collaborated to address medication administration safety challenges, generating over 224 unique ideas aimed at enhancing patient safety and reducing workflow inefficiencies in the inpatient setting.
Cleveland Clinic's Nursing Institute recently hosted an ideation session focused on addressing medication administration safety challenges in the inpatient setting. The event brought together more than 20 nursing and pharmacy caregivers at the Global Cardiovascular Innovations Center on Cleveland Clinic's main campus to develop innovative strategies that may overcome risks associated with medication administration.
The four-hour session was designed to understand and address efficiency challenges among nurses, medication system issues and other factors related to medication preparation and administration, including injectable and oral medications.
"This Ideation Session is a testament to how our nurses, who witness patient care challenges firsthand, are empowered to drive meaningful solutions that align with Cleveland Clinic's core values of quality, safety, and innovation. By tapping into the collective expertise of our frontline caregivers to address medication administration issues, we're simultaneously enhancing patient safety, improving patient quality of care, reducing medication errors, reducing the cognitive burden on our nursing teams and demonstrating our unwavering commitment to excellence in every aspect of patient care,” said Maureen Schaupp, MSN, APRN-CNP, Executive Director and Associate Chief Nursing Officer for Advanced Practice Nursing, Nursing Quality and Practice at Cleveland Clinic.
The day began with an introduction from nursing leadership, followed by a comprehensive overview of the challenges nurses face when administering medications in a complex inpatient healthcare environment. The session highlighted how current workflows—though designed with safety in mind, can be cumbersome for nurses managing multiple patients under time constraints and various distractions.
Once participants had a thorough understanding of the problem, Karen Schaedlich, MSN, RN, Innovation Coordinator at the Stanley Shalom Zielony Institute for Nursing Excellence, led a series of structured brainstorming exercises. These included individual ideation and relationship mapping that encouraged participants to build upon each other's ideas.
The dynamic approach paid off, generating an impressive 224 unique ideas addressing the challenge from multiple angles. After the initial brainstorming phase, nursing leaders organized idea concepts into thematic groups, and participants were divided into four breakout teams to further develop the most promising solutions.
"Being part of this Ideation Session was incredibly energizing because it gave us, as frontline caregivers, a real voice in solving a challenge we face every day," shared Lynne Kokoczka, MSN, APRN-CNS, ACCNS-AG, CCRN. "Collaborating with colleagues to refine our ideas into potential solutions was validating, and I'm excited to continue working with Cleveland Clinic Innovations and my colleagues in the Nursing Institute to develop concepts that could genuinely improve both patient safety and our workflow efficiency."
Each team spent time refining their concepts before presenting them to the larger group. The process culminated in four novel solutions that will be evaluated by Cleveland Clinic Innovations and nursing leadership.
Although specific details of the solutions remain confidential during the development process, the concepts ranged from technological approaches to workflow improvements, all designed to make it easier for nurses to follow best practices for medication administration and maintain efficiency in their daily work.
The ideation session represents a significant shift in how healthcare challenges are addressed, emphasizing the value of frontline caregiver perspectives in developing practical solutions.
"Seeing more than 20 nursing professionals generate hundreds of ideas in a single session underscores the tremendous untapped innovation potential within our frontline caregivers," remarked Karen Schaedlich. "The energy in the room was palpable as they focused on how we might improve medication administration systems and processes and transform initial concepts into potentially commercially viable solutions."
Nancy Albert, PhD, CCNS, FAAN, Executive Director and Associate Chief Nursing Officer for the Office of Nursing Research and Innovation, added, "Having inpatient hospital nurses and pharmacists from multiple sites within our healthcare system come together to participate in the Nursing Institute Ideation session exemplifies our commitment to advancing patient safety through collaborative innovation. By bringing together diverse clinical perspectives to tackle this critical challenge, we're developing novel solutions and also, fostering a culture where every caregiver feels empowered to contribute to improving healthcare delivery and patient outcomes across Cleveland Clinic."
The session concluded with plans to further develop the proposed solutions and for continued collaboration in future ideation sessions between the Nursing Institute and Cleveland Clinic Innovations. Together, the ultimate goal is for nurses and their collaborators to develop actionable innovations- those that facilitate nursing work efficiency, enhance patient safety, and/or improve quality of care within Cleveland Clinic, and also for stakeholders in other healthcare systems and settings.
