Often, the conversation around innovation in healthcare focuses on technology: new tools, new systems, new efficiencies. But at Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic, the conversation begins with the people who will use those tools every day.
That philosophy underpins two Mayo-led events — the Nursing Nexus and the Nursing Transformation Conference — that aim to make innovation a collaborative practice rather than a top-down initiative. Both are structured around a simple but powerful premise: When nurses have the space and structure to imagine what is possible, innovation becomes more sustainable, meaningful and human-centered.
The idea came from Mayo Clinic Chief Nursing Officer Ryannon Frederick, MSN, RN, who wanted to bridge a persistent gap she had seen throughout her career.
“Often the technology would work really well for patients, and we’d get the outcomes we wanted,” Ms. Frederick said. “But for nurses, it often just felt like one more thing added to their plate.”
Rather than letting innovation happen to nurses, Ms. Frederick wanted it to happen through them. That mindset became the foundation for the Nursing Nexus and the Nursing Transformation Conference, both designed to reset how nurses engage with innovation.
Traditionally, technology companies have been the catalysts for healthcare innovation, bringing nurses in at the end of the process to test new tools. Mayo’s model inverts that relationship.
“We wanted to make nurses the technology inventors,” Ms. Frederick said. “Nurses know what works for patients, for care teams and for the profession. Their expertise is what should drive how these tools are built.”
The goal, she said, was twofold: Educate staff on emerging technologies and amplify their voices in shaping how those tools take form. The internal Nursing Nexus event connects Mayo’s nursing staff to the system’s strategic goals, while the national Nursing Transformation Conference broadens that dialogue across the industry.
Each event is structured to move beyond inspiration into application. At Nursing Nexus, participants start with educational sessions, learning about emerging technologies and grounding their work in the humanity of caring. From there, they move through an interactive skills fair where they can see, touch and imagine how new technologies might fit into their daily workflows. Attendees also participate in tabletop exercises designed to identify challenges they face day to day and brainstorm solutions.
“Nothing in healthcare happens in a silo,” Ms. Frederick said. “Our magic at Mayo Clinic is teamwork and the way we come together — seeing people think not just about their work, but how their work might help others.”
For the Nursing Transformation Conference, the focus broadens to include other nurse innovators and industry leaders.
“It’s not even really about how to create the technology,” Ms. Frederick said. “It’s about where to start, what questions to ask and how to support and inspire each other through the process.”
Last year’s internal Nexus event generated more than 200 ideas. The nursing leadership team then groups those submissions by theme, evaluates feasibility and impact, and integrates top priorities into Mayo’s nursing plan for the year ahead. One standout theme, personalization, became a catalyst for change. Nurses wanted to see technology that could tailor information and workflows to individual patients and caregivers. That feedback helped shape the design of Mayo’s Nurse Virtual Assistant, a homegrown generative AI tool now implemented across sites.
“The technology already had potential,” Ms. Frederick said. “But when staff said, ‘Here’s how it can actually apply to our work,’ it took personalization to a whole new level.” The tool now surfaces in the EHR, helping nurses quickly locate patient information, policies and procedures — all customized to their specialty, patient population and even site-specific guidelines.
For Ms. Frederick, the benefits of these events are not confined to their two-day schedules. The conversations continue throughout the year as staff help shape projects and priorities that come out of the sessions.
“We want them to feel like they’re flying the plane,” she said. “That’s what we’re trying to do, have them drive the creation of these tools.”
As technology continues to evolve rapidly, so too will the focus areas of future conferences. But one principle will remain constant: for nurses, by nurses.
“We want to see nurse-led innovation change the industry, not just for patients, but for caregivers,” Ms. Frederick said. “When nurses lead, healthcare moves forward.”
