Creating and launching. Innovative nursing education programs: perils and pearls.

Abstract Nursing's future depends on continuing to seek, create, and launch innovative nursing programs. Successful innovation can improve nursing education delivery and make optimal use of available resources while tapping into the imagination and creativity of faculty and students; in addition, it can create an optimistic environment and encourage beneficial change with the faculty and staff. Innovation has been described as an art, a process of diffusion, and a process of transforming ideas into real value. The purpose of this article is to explore the concepts surrounding innovation, steps in development of an innovation, and share pearls, perils, and lessons learned so that others can explore the process within their nursing education programs.