ANA Innovation Lounge

ANA has launched a new digital series, the ANA Innovation Lounges held in conjunction with the ANA Innovation Awards submission process.

The purpose of the ANA Innovation Lounge is to create a space for nurses to expand their thinking about the profession and health care, with a focus on innovation. Connect with nursing colleagues and leaders to enhance your skills, get motivated, and build upon your personal confidence. Ultimately, we want to inspire you to develop and act on your ideas. 

• Meet nurses who are leading innovative efforts 
• Engage in real-time networking around all aspects of nursing innovation 
• Join a supportive environment working to accelerate innovation
• Learn from people who are driving conversations around nursing and health care

We hosted our first virtual networking lounge at the ANCC Virtual Summit in October 2020. It was such an overwhelming success, we decided to launch more of these interactive events. The first lounge took place June 22, and another August 17. Our next ANA Innovation Lounge will take place September 28 at 6:00 p.m. EDT and our last ANA Innovation Lounge will take place October 12 (also at 6:00 p.m.).   

June 2021 ANA Innovation Lounge

Why Do Nurses Need to Innovate?  What Happens If They Don’t? 

This informative, 90-minute discussion will create a space for you to reflect on what's possible for our profession, learn how other nurses and nurse advocates are viewing innovation, and to inspire your own creative or innovative work. Join us to hear ideas on how nurses can navigate the complexity across healthcare to flex their innovation muscle. Connect with ANA Innovation Advisory Board members for a lively conversation around nursing and healthcare innovation.

• Moderator: Dan Pesut. PhD, RN, FAAN, Owner & Founder, Strategic Foresight Consulting
• Speakers: Teddie Potter, PhD, RN, FAAN, Director of Planetary Health, University of Minnesota School of Nursing
• Ahrin Mishan, MPA, MA, Executive Director, The Rita and Alex Hillman Foundation
• Christi Zuber, PhD, RN, MHA, Founder & Managing Director, Aspen Labs

August 2021 ANA Innovation Lounge

Empathy for Change: Create a Better Future and Drive Impact

During the August ANA Innovation Lounge, attendees learned how empathy, understanding and kindness can better guide them through the “fuzzy” front-end of innovation. Most people do not think of empathy as a key driver to change and innovation, yet this often-overlooked skill is instrumental to achieve both. Then, got a glimpse behind the scenes of how an international organization uses innovation and customer centered design methods when creating new products.

• Moderator: Scott Sagehorn, Director of Marketing, Stryker
• Keynote: Amy J. Wilson, Founder and CEO, Empathy for Change
• Matt Regnery, Director of Marketing, Portfolio Stryker
• Debbie Gregory, DNP, RN, Senior Clinical Consultant, Smith Seckman Reid, Inc.
• Joey Ferry, BSN, RN, Co-Founder, Frontier Health & Resources
• Taofiki Gafar-Schaner, MSN, RN, Co-Founder, Frontier Health & Resources

September 2021 ANA Innovation Lounge

Grace Under Pressure: Nurses Innovating Through Pandemic Challenges

The work of our profession is critical to the health of people and communities across our country. What happens when nurses need care? And, what happens when nurse’s burnout under the extreme duress and pressure of the COVID-19?  Learn where can nurses turn for support and resources.

On September 28, the ANA Innovation Lounge will be focused on caring for nurses who have navigated pandemic challenges with incredible grace. Please consider joining this conversation being led by national and international nurse leader Megan Bronson PMHCNS-BC and psychotherapist, who has dedicated her nursing practice of 50 years to supporting patients, families, and staff who are experiencing grief, trauma, and traumatic loss, and Allison Nordberg, Director of the Well-Being Initiative at the American Nurses Foundation.

• Keynote: Megan Bronson, PMHCNS-BC, nurse leader and psychotherapist
• Speaker: Allison Nordberg, Director, American Nurses Foundation

October 2021 ANA Innovation Lounge

The Path of Pioneers: Nursing's Legacy, Nursing's Legacy, Nursing's Future

A lot of people are asking “Where do we go from here?” Join an intimate conversation between two pioneering nurses who have repeatedly shown that healthcare and nursing can be improved. We’ll be discussing what nursing can learn from the past and how nurses leading innovative work can move healthcare and nursing into the future.

• Speaker: Marie Manthey PhD(hon), MNA, FAAN, FRCN
• Speaker: Julie Kennedy Oehlert, DNP, RN