The American Nurses Association named two nurses as recipients of its 2023 Innovation Awards on March 8. The awards celebrate nurse-led innovations that aim to improve patient safety and outcomes.
Kevin Lee Smith, DNP, a nurse practitioner, received the individual nurse award for creating The Good Clinic — a Minnesota-based primary care model led by nurse practitioners that serves patients ages 12 and older, offering same-day and virtual appointments. As part of the model, nurse practitioners collaborate with patients to develop wholistic, tailored wellness plans for each person's health goals and lifestyle.
The nurse-led team award went to Roxanne McMurray, DNP, APRN, who led the development of the Distal Pharyngeal Airway, or the McMurray Enhanced Airway — a tool that stents open throat tissue to maintain adequate ventilation during surgery and other medical procedures for patients who are at risk of breathing complications. Five leaders on the McMurray team were also listed as recipients.
"The winners addressed emerging care needs, through a new nurse-led business model that’s improving access to health services, and the second is a medical device being used by emergency medical services and surgical teams," Oriana Beaudet, DNP, RN, vice president of nursing innovation at the ANA, said in a statement. "Advancing nurse-led solutions that create sustainable cost-effective solutions across healthcare is good business, driven by purpose and mission."
The individual nurse award comes with a $25,000 prize; the team-led award is $50,000 to further support research and development of their innovations. The ANA Innovation Awards are sponsored by medical technology company Stryker.