2024 Winners

Mentoring in LTC

The crucial role mentoring plays in the development of nurses and nurse leadership is well known.  Not so well known is how the unique context of working in Long Term Care changes how mentorship is provided.

MAPPED

Facilitating effective patient discharge education for new parents may optimize patient education, streamline nurse-patient interactions, and reduce the risk of readmission and post-discharge concerns.

Primary Care Solutions

Primary Care Solutions offers training that allows health care professionals to fulfill the scope of their practice through a medium that is broadly accessible. The project will reduce some of the pressure on specialists, allowing more serious cases to access needed care more quickly.

Looking at Now: What is the Nursing Innovation Grant:

The RNFOO Nursing Innovation Grants offer funding of up to $10,000 to an individual nurse or a nurse-led team that has a new and original idea, method, program and/or service that will enhance nursing practice, nursing education, or the nursing work environment.

It is expected that the innovation will be completed within twelve months of the winner receiving funding.  Recipients of grants will be required to provide a progress report after 6 months, and a final report (with financial details) after 1 year.

The Foundation has a solid base of volunteers ready, willing and able to review proposals, determine winners, and oversee the completion of projects.

Looking Forward: Where We’re Going

RNFOO is seeking individuals, organizations, and corporations with the vision and commitment to sustain this vital work. If you are a donor who values innovation in nursing and the future of healthcare, we invite you to connect with us.

Looking Back: Where We Were

The precursor to the NIG was the Nurse Innovator Award (NIA),  a 5-year program conceived by the Honorary Life Members of the RNFOO to enable, encourage, support, and celebrate nursing innovation. The initial fundraising campaign recruited individuals and organizations, enabling RNFOO to distribute $404,000+ to innovative and entrepreneurial nurses in Ontario from 2019 through 2023. The projects supported through the NIA covered the breadth of nursing in Ontario, dealing with Pediatrics to Long Term Care, covering sites from Ottawa in the east, Sudbury in the north, and Cambridge in the south-west, and including all nursing designations: RPN, RN, and RN-EC.

Project descriptions and reports from the Nurse Innovator Award winners are listed below.

The story of the beginning of the NIA can be read in the March 2020 Longwoods Blog Nurse Innovator Award: Enabling Nursing Creativity & Innovation. A report on the program was presented at the ICN conference in July 2023. And we’re not finished telling the story yet!