2022 ANA Innovation Awards

Sign-Up for the Innovation Newsletter

2022 ANA Innovation Awards

The ANA Innovation Awards highlight, recognize, and celebrate nurse-led innovation that improves patient safety outcomes. Awards will be presented to a nurse and a nurse-led team whose product, program, project, or practice best exemplify nurse-led innovation in patient safety and/or outcomes.

2022 Innovation Award Application

Application Submissions Open: June 1, 2021, 9:00 a.m. EDT
Application Submissions Close: November 4, 2021, 12:00 p.m. EST

You must complete the “Eligibility Status” section to indicate you accept and agree to the ANA Innovation Award rules and criteria, and to certify that you or your team are eligible to receive the ANA Innovation Award and recognitions associated with it.
Enter required fields, including a summary of the innovation, a narrative, and annotated bibliography. (See details below.)
You will receive an email confirmation when you start the application and when you submit it.
Winners will be notified in November 2021.
Prior ANA Innovation Award winners are ineligible to submit an application for two years after their award.

DOWNLOAD APPLICATION RULES APPLY NOW INNOVATION AWARDS FAQS

2021 ANA Innovation Award Winners

Congratulations to the 2021 ANA Innovation Awards, powered by BD - See Press Release!

Winner of the Individual Nurse Award

TrachTrail™
Becky Cherney, BSN, RN

Becky Cherney Rebecca Cherney, a staff nurse at a large tertiary hospital, developed TrachTrail™. It is the first comprehensive, standardized adult tracheostomy care education program of its kind, focusing on combined nurse, patient, and caregiver training with emphasis on empathy for the patient and their families. TrachTrail™ provides user-friendly multimedia content, emphasizing patient-centeredness and builds upon multi-disciplinary collaboration to ensure quality of life with a tracheostomy at home. The need for adult tracheostomies has increased by 15-20% due to COVID-19. There were few standardized training programs available for adults in the self-care of tracheostomies before discharge, leaving nurses unable to effectively instruct patients and caregivers in the skills needed to care for their tracheostomy at-home. TrachTrail™ includes five 2- 3 minute educational videos, an interactive discharge timeline, a skills education checklist, and an at-home workbook for patients and caregivers. Since the debut of TrachTrail™ on a progressive care unit in 2017, the educational program has seen a dramatic decrease in length of hospital stays from an average of 64.8 days to an average of 16.6 days, yielding higher patient and caregiver satisfaction. A wider hospital implementation is planned for 2021-2022.

Winner of the Nurse-led Team Award

Lavender
Brighid Gannon, DNP, PMHNP-BC and Pritma Dhillon-Chattha, DNP, MHA, RN

The belief that mental health care is difficult to access and too expensive, led to the creation of Lavender, an online psychiatry and therapy office founded and operated by nurses. Lavender was launched in May 2020 to provide clients with modern, accessible, and affordable mental health care during the COVID-19 pandemic. Their model of psychiatry care is solely delivered by board certified psychiatric mental health nurse practitioners who offer both medication management and supportive therapy in one session. This approach is not only cost effective and timesaving for clients, but also is proven to be 60% more effective. Mental health services are priced at 30% below market and insurance is accepted, with appointments typically available within the week. From idea to implementation, Lavender was launched by Yale School of Nursing Alumni, Dr. Gannon & Dr. Dhillon-Chattha within 45 days. Their services have helped hundreds of clients receive timely, efficient, and affordable care. Bookings have doubled every month since May, and continued demand has fueled their rapid growth. Lavender is currently available in New York state, with plans to expand services throughout the country.