Lee University’s School of Nursing (SON) recently held its first ever Nursing Innovation Expo as part of the Leadership and Professional Practice course for senior nursing students.

Prior to the event, the 70 nursing students divided into eight teams and were asked to identify a problem they had noticed during their clinical rotations. They were then challenged to come up with a product, policy, or process change to solve the problem

“In the hospital, nurses are the hub of inter-professional teams that care for patients,” said Dr. Amy Jo Perry, assistant professor of nursing at Lee. “This position provides a unique perspective and valuable insight that can be leveraged to affect positive change. However, most of the time nurses are on the receiving end of policy and process changes rather than the creative side. We hope this project will give students the knowledge, skills, and confidence to change that.”

The expo, a Shark-Tank style competition, was added to the curriculum based on recommendations in the Institute of Medicine’s “Future of Nursing” report. During the eight-hour event, students presented their ideas to a panel of “Sharks” (guest judges) from Lee’s campus and the Cleveland community.

Judges included J.T. Barnhart, Tennova Cleveland’s CEO; Dr. Sara Campbell, SON dean; Dr. Bill Estes, Helen DeVos College of Education dean; Dr. Debbie Murray, provost; Dr. Dewayne Thompson, School of Business dean; and Dr. Mark Walker, president of Lee, along with nurse leaders from Tennova, CHI Memorial, and Children’s Hospital at Erlanger. The students’ ideas were scored based on the problem and necessity, innovation, details, feasibility, professionalism, and answers to the judge’s questions.

“I’m so proud of our senior nursing students and excited that they will be tomorrow’s leaders,” said Amy Moody, lecturer of nursing at Lee. “We need creative solutions to healthcare problems, and they have shown that they’re capable of taking these challenges head on.”

Students presented a variety of ideas, including “STAN the Bedpan Man,” “Float Pool Residency Program,” “Med Ed,” “The Sleep Safe Mat,” “The Foot Buddy,” “TeleTeddy,” “The Rainbow Syringe,” and “STIVA.”

The winning team was STIVA (a Simple Tool for Identifying Victims of Abuse), which included nursing students Glory Moffitt, Maddie Moro, Pierson Nelson, Kaylee Newso me, Kristen O’Dell, Macey Orman, Kori Otto, and Ally Schall. The winners’ names and project were added to a plaque in the School of Nursing and invited to dinner and ice skating.

“My group’s mission was to create a way in the hospital for victims of abuse to report their case without the influence of their abuser,” said Schall. “With STIVA, we are hoping to do just that. We identified a lot of barriers we would need to overcome and worked together to address those. We also received input from an emergency department nurse at a local hospital. We loved getting to work together on something that has the potential to save lives, and we hope to see this implemented in hospitals in the future.”

The day closed with a virtual interview with guest speaker Kathleen Puri, founder of Fitsi Health, an award-winning, innovative caddy for hospital beds that holds hand sanitizer and other hygiene materials.

For more information about the School of Nursing, visit https://www.leeuniversity.edu/academics/nursing/.