The award program, which was created in 2004 to acknowledge nurses who have made a significant contribution to nursing education or practice through the development and/or adoption of a new technology, offers one $10,000 prize each to a nursing educator or a practicing nurse whose innovation leads to improved nursing education and student outcomes and to a nurse educator or practicing nurse whose innovation leads to improved patient care and patient care outcomes.
Entries will be judged on the innovativeness of the technology and its impact on nursing education or direct patient care. The innovation must be new and have been in use for six months or more prior to submission of application. Applications must be submitted under one of the following categories:
1) Nursing education (both didactic and clinical): Innovation may be related to curriculum delivery methods; improving student clinical competency, and efficiency. Examples include developing a software program that assists nursing students with collection of patient data and the creation of an electronic nursing care plan.
2) Patient care: Innovation may be related to improving efficiency of patient care delivery and/or preventing errors in patient care or improving outcomes. Examples include using current technology/equipment to develop a new way to monitor patient assessment data, alerting staff of status change; developing new technological tools to assess patients; and decision support tools.
See the Drexel University Web site for complete program guidelines, application guidelines, and profiles of past winners.