Have you ever imagined how nursing or healthcare could be improved? Do you have a concept in the works that you need support to launch? If so, consider applying for the 2021 ANA Innovation Awards and join the ranks of other nurses who have claimed the prize to develop their innovations and bring them to life.

The American Nurses Association (ANA) and the American Nurses Foundation (the Foundation) are now accepting applications for the 2021 ANA Innovation Awards, powered by Becton, Dickinson and Company (BD), a leading global medical technology company. The application process is open through November 1, 2020. The ANA Innovation Awards recognize nurse-led innovation and celebrate nursing excellence.

Awards include a $25,000 individual nurse award and a $50,000 nurse-led team award for an innovative product, program, project, or practice transformative to patient safety and/or patient outcomes. The funds will support translational research, development, prototyping, production, testing, and implementation. Winners will have 1 year to further develop their innovation and will present their outcomes at an ANA event.

Nurses have a keen understanding of how innovation can impact patients and caregivers, making them uniquely capable of developing processes, systems, and devices that anticipate and solve issues affecting their patients and communities.

Jan Tedder, winner of the 2020 Individual Nurse Award, developed HUG Your Baby—an evidence-based program that helps new mothers and families better understand their baby’s excessive crying, frequent awakenings, increased stranger anxiety, and perceived
inability to latch for breastfeeding.

2020 Nurse-led Team Award winners Joey Ferry and Taofiki Gafar-Schaner created SafeSeizure™ to standardize bed rail pads and help nurses put in place better “seizure precaution” protocols to keep patients safe.

Read about past winners, learn more about the awards criteria, and apply here.