• Nurses Leading Innovation

  • About AACN CSI Academy

  • Curriculum

Nurses Transforming Healthcare Through Innovation

AACN believes direct care nurses are critical drivers in creating lasting change and, ultimately, transforming healthcare. Imagine decreasing infections, delirium and other adverse events just by having nurses—the care providers on the front line with patients—develop innovative solutions.

AACN CSI Academy aims to provide nurses with the knowledge, skills and support to lead their peers in creating unit-based change that is easily scaled for maximum impact. Their powerful results clearly show the return on investment of empowering nurses at the bedside.

AACN Clinical Scene Investigator (CSI) Academy is a hospital-based nurse leadership and innovation training program designed to empower direct care nurses as clinician leaders and change agents whose initiatives measurably improve patient and fiscal outcomes.

At its core, AACN CSI Academy leverages nurses’ expertise to enhance patient care and expand it with additional leadership skills gained through education, coaching and mentoring.

Unit-based teams of nurses immediately apply their learning by identifying priority patient-care challenges, then developing, implementing and evaluating solutions that result in quantifiable improvements.

Unlike other quality-focused programs, AACN CSI Academy goes beyond offering sound tools and step-by-step processes to emphasize the theory and practice of implementing change. CSI Academy curriculum consists of content delivered in an experiential learning environment, including on-site workshops, online education activities and faculty consultations.

Topics include:
  • Leadership
  • Teamwork
  • Project Identification
  • Social Entrepreneurship
  • Business Case for Quality
  • Project Implementation
  • Data Collection and Analysis
  • Strategic Communications
  • Scaling and Sustaining Projects

Bring AACN CSI Academy to Your Hospital

Thinking about participating in AACN CSI Academy? Our hands-on nurse leadership and innovation program is designed to meet the unique needs of individual hospitals. We invite you to connect with our CSI faculty to discuss your facility’s needs — and how this empowering program can help you achieve your organizational objectives. Please contact us at AACNCSI@aacn.org to start the conversation.

AACN CSI Program Results

  • Program Reach

  • Project Outcomes

  • Fiscal Impact

  • Nurse Impact

The number of lives touched by AACN CSI Academy continues to grow as does the range of clinical challenges tackled by participants.
CSI team members report achieving measurable improvements to patient, nurse and hospital outcomes.
CSI Academy nurses report that their efforts to influence change in patient care processes and protocols reduced hospital costs while improving outcomes.
CSI Academy participants experience profound personal and professional growth, and help elevate the profession through widespread sharing of innovation.

CSI Academy FAQ

You have questions—we have answers. Learn more about the AACN CSI Academy program and how it works.