From Candy Striper to Nursing Innovation Leader

Because of their red and white pinstriped uniforms, the original hospital volunteers were called candy stripers. They were often high school students who helped patients with errands, getting to appointments, or other basic needs. 

Dr. Michael Ackerman, PhD, RN, FCCM, FNAP, FAANP, FAAN, started his journey as one of them. Since then, his path has grown into one of the most far-reaching and multifaceted careers in nursing, spanning critical care, academia, innovation, and national leadership. Starting off with his fascination in high school with emergency medicine, he decided to go to nursing school and earned a PhD. 

Read on to learn more about Ackerman’s work in nursing innovation and how he involves nurses and nursing students in the innovation process. 

Q: Where Did Your Work in Nursing Innovation Begin?

A: When I finished my doctorate, I was an acute care nurse practitioner, which, at the time, I was probably one of the first in the field. I later took over the first acute care nurse practitioner program at the University of Rochester. At the same time, I developed the Center for Clinical Trials and Medical Device Evaluation. This aimed to get nurses involved in innovation and product development.  

So, the CVICU became known as “Ackerman’s playground.” We brought in a lot of different equipment and also did some pharmaceutical trials, and that’s how I got my start in the nursing innovation space. We took prototypes at various levels and worked on developing them, which wasn’t a space that nursing was involved with at the time. 

Then I took a role in Rochester, where we started the Sovie Center of Advanced Practice Providers, which was one of the first of its kind. Rochester was the home of Dr. Loretta Ford, who was the dean at the time. She was the grandmother of nurse practitioner education, and she recently passed away at the age of 104. I tried my hand at administration and senior leadership there for about four years and then left to go back to Ohio State, where I became a Professor of Clinical Nursing and the Director of the Master of Healthcare Innovation Program.

Q: How Do You Connect Creativity and Innovation Into Nursing Practice?

A: There are places that do innovation really well, but, for the most part, healthcare is so risk-averse. What we’ve found anecdotally with nursing is that they just need permission. They’re looking for permission to innovate, so we have to create these structures.

If you use the word ‘jerry-rig’... or a ‘work-around,’ that’s an innovation. So we wanted to take it one step further and democratize innovation and bring it to the bedside. 

That’s when we built what’s called the Spark Carts. The idea was, let’s take a craftsman tool chest and put a bunch of design items on it. Anything from popsicle sticks to Play-Doh and markers, and we had design jams. We would ask, “What problems do we want to solve today?” 

An example of how innovation can be done at the bedside is doppler cases we designed. Through working on innovating at the bedside, we learned that the ICU managers said the dopplers didn’t have any cases, so it was costing a lot of money any time a doppler was dropped. So over two years of iterating, we built doppler cases and are working with engineering on drop testing now.

 

Q: What Exciting Nursing Innovation Projects Are You Working on Now?

A: We are working on several innovation projects that fall under our Center for Healthcare Innovation and Leadership (CHIL). About four years ago, I was asked by the dean to start a center, and now we have a few different hubs that are a part of this, including:

• The Maker Space. This is our creative space. We have an artist who works there and does 3D printing, laser cutting, and mold making.
• The Extended Reality (XR) Lab. This was funded by the American Nurses Foundation. We received funding to spend three years integrating VR into our entire undergraduate curriculum, which we did. We actually had a lot of missteps in implementing this, but it’s a lesson that failure doesn’t mean the end of the road. It’s something to learn from. We're partnering with the hospital. We're doing some research around extended reality. So that's another piece of it.
• Immersive and Digital Health Hub. We partner with the hospital to do research around extended reality. At our college of nursing, I have two artists and a master’s graduate in UX design on my team. It enables us to explore various aspects of design, creativity, and digital environments.
• Innovation Fellowship Program. This is a national program. This year, we had 17 fellows from around the country. This is a program built off of a wellness model, because we believe there’s a direct relationship between a culture of wellbeing and a culture of innovation.
• AI collaboration: We’re also co-leading an AI initiative. We don’t know where this will end up, but we are looking to do a big tech partnership. We're trying to infuse innovation into a place where it hasn't really been infused before, which is a College of Nursing.

Q: What Do You Want People to Remember About Your Nursing Legacy?

A: It’s a process. It doesn’t just happen. I can’t tell you the number of people who want to do what I do, but it’s a process. 

1. Build a strong network of people around the country that you can pick up the phone and call for ideas or support.
2. Find a mentor, and don’t be afraid to call them. Don’t get really deep into a project without validating the ideas with people you trust.
3. Most importantly, go out and make a change. 

 

Final Thoughts 

“A lot of people are kind of down on the nursing profession. But I think this is our golden hour. Let's take advantage of it.”  

Ackerman’s journey from candy striper to pioneering director of innovation proves what’s possible when nurses are given permission to think differently and act boldly. Creativity and innovation are essential parts of nursing. This is nursing’s moment to lead, to create, and to shape the future of healthcare from the inside out

Non-Bedside