A wrap for the first cohort of the Nurse Innovation Fellowship Program

For the past year, 10 teams of two senior nurse leaders from across the country had the opportunity to focus on a problem unique to their health care system through the joint program between Penn Nursing and The Wharton School.

The Nurse Innovation Fellowship Program by Johnson & Johnson, powered by Penn’s School of Nursing and The Wharton School, wrapped the first cohort of senior nurse leaders from health care systems from across the country.

Members of the first cohort of the Nurse Innovation Fellowship Program by Johnson & Johnson in a classroom.
The teams represented geographically diverse institutions from areas across the U.S., from large and small health systems as well as stand-alone hospitals and public health systems in urban and rural locations. (Image: Courtesy of Penn Nursing News)

The teams took classes on innovation that focused on human-centered design, equity-centered design, and design thinking methodologies, and learned how to apply these ideas to their specific health care challenge. They also learned business acumen skills through an innovation lens. The innovation curriculum was provided by Penn Nursing with business training provided through Wharton Executive Education. At its conclusion, the fellows defined the problem and created potential solutions that they brought back to their health care systems to implement.

“The nurse leaders learned how to put aside their assumptions and biases, empathetically listen to their end users, and employ the power of the innovation process. They can now spread this innovation mindset throughout their organization and apply it to other projects within their hospitals and health systems,” says Therese Richmond, the Andrea B. Laporte Professor at Penn Nursing.

The teams represented geographically diverse institutions from areas across the U.S. They came from large and small health systems as well as stand-alone hospitals and public health systems in urban and rural locations, bringing a range of problems to the program that needed solutions.

Read more at Penn Nursing News.