Design Thinking like a Nurse: A Professional Practice Model for Nursing Innovation

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic made creative problem-solving, a skill that nurses have long possessed, more observable and valued. This article presents a new professional practice model for nursing innovation that facilitates practice improvements and leverages skills, strengths, and values that are integral to nursing. This model integrates the nursing process with Design Thinking and Theory U change management processes. A clinical case study illustrates the model's components in a pediatric oncology ambulatory center. Using this practice model, nurse leaders can leverage “design thinking like a nurse,” to enhance innovation in health-care settings.