title: Innovativeness of nurse leaders.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of the present study was to describe the innovativeness and the rate of adoption of change among chief nursing officers (CNOs) of acute care hospitals, and explore the difference in the innovativeness of CNOs of Magnet hospitals vs. non-Magnet hospitals.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  There is little evidence to guide the description of innovativeness for nurse leaders, crucial to the implementation of evidence-based practice standards.
  
  
  METHODS
  CNOs of acute care hospitals of New York State participated in a mailed survey which incorporated the Scale for the Measurement of Innovativeness. The response rate was 41% (106/261).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The majority of the sample was prepared at the master's level with 5-10 years of experience in the CNO role. A significant relationship was found between the innovativeness scale scores and the innovativeness diversity index. The CNOs who completed more leadership courses had implemented significantly more types of innovations and had higher innovativeness scale scores.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Graduate level education, years of CNO experience and leadership course completion were identified as significantly influencing innovativeness of CNOs.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The characteristics of innovativeness for nurse leaders presented in the present study may assist organizations, CNOs and the Magnet recognition programme to describe innovativeness that supports organizations to continuously improve the quality of patient care.
authors.affiliation: Albany Medical Center, The Center of Learning & Development, Albany, NY. kxc196@case.edu
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Clement-O'Brien
authors.forename: Denise F
authors.initials: DF
authors.lastname: Polit
authors.forename: Joyce J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Fitzpatrick
mesh_terms: D000046:Academic Medical Centers; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D004059:Diffusion of Innovation; D017598:Efficiency, Organizational; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007857:Leadership; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009518:New York; D009718:Nurse Administrators; D015403:Nursing Evaluation Research; D009745:Nursing, Supervisory; D009936:Organizational Innovation; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric