Introduction
The COVID-19 pandemic has once again demonstrated healthcare personnel’s significance. However, as Ernest Grant, President of the American Nurses Association, noted, “the largest group of healthcare providers” – nurses – are still underrepresented (as cited in Johnson & Johnson Nursing, 2020, para. 10). Another active nursing leader, Rebecca Love, agrees with him that nurses deserve more acknowledgment and opportunities to innovate and upgrade the healthcare system (as cited in Johnson & Johnson Nursing, 2020, para. 20). Love has made a great contribution to promoting nurse-led innovation and can be regarded as an outstanding nursing leader in her field, which is the main reason for selecting her for this assignment.
Educational Background
Rebecca Love is a versatile specialist, possessing knowledge and skills in several professional spheres. First of all, she is a registered nurse (RN) and holds an MS in Nursing from Northeastern University (Healthcare Manufacturers Management Council, n.d., para. 3). Apart from that, she got a BA in International Relations/Spanish from Boston University and, in 2013, started her own businesses (Healthcare Manufacturers Management Council, n.d., para. 3; Uitti, 2019). All the acquired knowledge and experience allowed her to strengthen the collaboration between nurses and business people and increase nurses’ acknowledgment in society.
Professional Background
There is no specific information available online on how long Love has been working as a nurse. However, one can see how many projects concerning nursing she has implemented within less than ten years after she found her company HireNurses.com in 2013 (Healthcare Manufacturers Management Council, n.d., para. 2). One of her main achievements is the foundation of the Society of Nurse Scientists, Innovators, Entrepreneurs and Leaders (SONSIEL) “along with a group of leading nurses in the world” (Healthcare Manufacturers Management Council, n.d., para. 2). Its aim is to improve nurses’ image by presenting them “as the experts they are in healthcare” (Uitti, 2019, para. 33). Love currently serves as SONSIEL’s President implementing various projects and promoting nurse-led innovations, such as Nurse Hackathons (SONSIEL, n.d., para.1). They raise the public’s appreciation of nurses and motivate them to be more active, decisive, and creative.
Contributions to the Nursing Profession
The way Love raises awareness of nurses’ role in innovations within the healthcare system is one of her major contributions to nursing. There are several important points she makes about nurses-led healthcare system initiatives. Firstly, Love is certain that, unlike businessmen, nurses “put the wellbeing of the patients at the front” (as cited in Bau, 2020, para. 5). Secondly, she emphasizes that nurses are mostly the ones who would use new products or implement new initiatives (as cited in Bau, 2020). Finally, Love shares her nursing experience when she could notice that something did not work but did not have an opportunity to change anything (as cited in Bau, 2020). Moreover, she wants business people and healthcare leaders to invite nurses to discuss innovations and listen to their opinions more often.
Further, Love was also the first nursing leader to introduce some concepts. As noticed by Casados (2021), “Love is regarded as a pioneer in developing technology solutions that benefit nursing professionals” (para. 1). For instance, she was the creator and director of the Nurse Innovation and Entrepreneurship program (Healthcare Manufacturers Management Council, n.d., para. 1). This initiative made her a pioneer in “empowering nurses as innovators and entrepreneurs” in the US (SONSIEL, n.d., para. 3). It also resulted in transformational change in the field of healthcare and nursing.
Non-Nursing Theory
It is essential to notice that the position and actions of Rebecca Love are based on the specific non-nursing theory. When analyzing her ideas, it is possible to suggest that she supports Kanter’s empowerment theory that focuses on providing nurses with more trust and rights and allowing them to be more creative and make more responsible decisions (Spence Laschinger et al., 2010). As mentioned above, this is precisely what Love advocates for, and the identified theory shapes the nursing leader’s professional practice in several ways. For example, Love creates unique programs for nurses, considers their opinion, and advocates for their right to bring innovations to healthcare.
Importance of Theoretical Concepts
It is important to note that while promoting changes and innovations in the healthcare system, Love does not urge nurses to forget existing theoretical concepts. Love emphasizes that nurses become good innovators primarily due to their relevant knowledge (as cited in Bau, 2020). Love also highlighted that implementing innovations does not mean ignoring, violating, or eliminating existing protocols (as cited in Uitti, 2019). The nursing leader recognizes their value as the result of much “evidence-based practice and research to maintain the best outcomes” (as cited in Uitti, 2019, para. 18). Therefore, she believes there should be a balance between acknowledged, time-proved practices and innovative ones (as cited in Uitti, 2019). According to Love and other researchers, nurses must generally follow the protocols but should propose changes if they notice that certain practices do not work (as cited in Uitti, 2019; Malloch et al., 2020). The importance of balancing evidence-based practices and innovation is also presented in Hagle et al.’s study (2019), which offers a framework for a new modern, relevant, and efficient healthcare model. Thus, they also support Love’s theory that innovation cannot be successfully implemented without relying on time-proved theory, knowledge, and practices.
Conclusion
To conclude, Rebecca Love expands the understanding of the nurse’s role and raises awareness of their potential and significance. She can be considered an outstanding nursing leader, as she motivates nurses not to put up with existing problems within their working field but to seek solutions to them actively. Love utilized all acquired knowledge and experience in nursing and business and provided nurses with more opportunities to change the healthcare system for the better.
References
Bau, T. (2020). Q&A: ‘For years nurses have been left out of the conversation’. Healthcare IT News. Web.
Casados, J. (2021). IntelyCare adds renowned nursing advocate, entrepreneur Rebecca Love to executive leadership team. Business Wire. Web.
Hagle, M., Dwyer, D., Gettrust, L., Lusk, D., Peterson, K., & Tennies, S. (2019). Development and implementation of a model for research, evidence-based practice, quality improvement, and innovation.Journal of Nursing Care Quality, 35(2), 102-107. Web.
Healthcare Manufacturers Management Council (HMMC). (n.d.). Rebecca Love. Web.
Johnson & Johnson Nursing. (2020). What the Year of the Nurse means to 14 nurse leaders. Web.
Malloch, K., Hrabe, D. P., & Schultz, M. (2020). Innovation leaders: Networking across practice and regulatory agencies for better data and clinical efficiency. Nurse Leader, 18(3), 269-275. Web.
SONSIEL. (n.d.). 2021 Board of directors: Rebecca Love. Web.
Spence Laschinger, H. K., Gilbert, S., Smith, L. M., & Leslie, K. (2010). Towards a comprehensive theory of nurse/patient empowerment: Applying Kanter’s empowerment theory to patient care. Journal of Nursing Management, 18(1), 4-13.
Uitti, J. (2019). The first nurse featured on TED.com launches society for nurse entrepreneurs, innovators. Nurse.org. Web.