WGU D031 : Examples of Disruptive Innovation that Improved
Healthcare Outcomes .
The American Nurses Association (ANA) 2016 defined “nurses’ innovation ability as the
ability to actively seek and develop new methods, new technologies and new tools to promote
health, prevent diseases, improve the quality of care, and apply innovation to work through
teamwork and reasonable channels” as reported by Gao, et. al. (2022). Nurse innovators
understand system processes, collaborate interprofessionally, have knowledge of the impact of
practices on our patients, exercise divergent thinking and are risk-taking when exploring new
methods that may improve patient outcomes and experiences, as well as show improved
efficiency and fiscally viability. Disruptive innovation refers to transformative changes that
modify how healthcare services are currently delivered, accessed, or experienced. It often
challenges the concept, “that’s how we’ve always done it.” Munday (2023) reports nurses
ranked the most trusted profession for the 21st year consecutively per a Gallup poll released in
January 2023. Given this professional trust and nurse innovator attributes, nurses are poised to
be disruptive innovators to change healthcare as it has been known, improving patient care
outcomes and the work environment for healthcare professionals. The following discussion
reviews two disruptive innovations, the TyMed Wheel and 3D printing of personal protective
equipment, that positively influenced healthcare.
Knoff (2019), a nurse at Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare, chronicles the genesis
of The TyMed Wheel (Time Your Medicine) innovation while providing telephonic support to
the parent who was struggling to manage post-operative pain in her child. The nurse determined
the mother’s difficulty in understanding the pain medication schedule which resulted in the lack
of medication administration for the child. The nurse designed a hand-drawn clock face with
arrows indicating the last pain medication administration and next scheduled dose. The initial
design was improved to add an internal wheel, colors, and shapes to differentiate between
Healthcare Outcomes .
The American Nurses Association (ANA) 2016 defined “nurses’ innovation ability as the
ability to actively seek and develop new methods, new technologies and new tools to promote
health, prevent diseases, improve the quality of care, and apply innovation to work through
teamwork and reasonable channels” as reported by Gao, et. al. (2022). Nurse innovators
understand system processes, collaborate interprofessionally, have knowledge of the impact of
practices on our patients, exercise divergent thinking and are risk-taking when exploring new
methods that may improve patient outcomes and experiences, as well as show improved
efficiency and fiscally viability. Disruptive innovation refers to transformative changes that
modify how healthcare services are currently delivered, accessed, or experienced. It often
challenges the concept, “that’s how we’ve always done it.” Munday (2023) reports nurses
ranked the most trusted profession for the 21st year consecutively per a Gallup poll released in
January 2023. Given this professional trust and nurse innovator attributes, nurses are poised to
be disruptive innovators to change healthcare as it has been known, improving patient care
outcomes and the work environment for healthcare professionals. The following discussion
reviews two disruptive innovations, the TyMed Wheel and 3D printing of personal protective
equipment, that positively influenced healthcare.
Knoff (2019), a nurse at Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare, chronicles the genesis
of The TyMed Wheel (Time Your Medicine) innovation while providing telephonic support to
the parent who was struggling to manage post-operative pain in her child. The nurse determined
the mother’s difficulty in understanding the pain medication schedule which resulted in the lack
of medication administration for the child. The nurse designed a hand-drawn clock face with
arrows indicating the last pain medication administration and next scheduled dose. The initial
design was improved to add an internal wheel, colors, and shapes to differentiate between
