Nurse Rosa's INsights

Recorded live at the 2026 ANCC Magnet & Pathway Conference in Chicago.

Some of the most powerful innovations in healthcare start with one nurse noticing what’s possible. In this episode we hear from Nely Amaral, RN, BScN, and Anna Kha, CNS, of Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, the team behind this year’s Magnet Prize-winning program, Mothers Healing Others.

Nely walks us through how the program works, using amniotic membrane donated by mothers having planned C-sections and processed through Mount Sinai’s own tissue and bone bank. We talk about why amnion is such a powerful tissue, with anti-inflammatory and anti-scarring properties and possible pain relief, and how it’s helping patients with some of the hardest head-and-neck surgical wounds.

What started as a five-patient trial became a permanent treatment option once the team brought outcomes and before-and-after photos to hospital leadership. We also cover safety, from processing that removes DNA and blood (so no cross-matching is needed) to how the team educates patients and pauses treatment if infection is suspected. Then Nely and Anna share how they plan to use the $125,000 Magnet Prize, including a retrospective review of 140 patients, program expansion, education, and keeping the donated-tissue supply going.

We close with Anna’s wound care philosophy: look at the whole person, not just the wound, and lean on every discipline to get patients back to the life they want.

If you’re a nurse, a nurse leader, or anyone who believes bedside ideas can change care, this one’s for you.

Timestamps

00:00 Meet the Toronto Magnet Prize-winning team

01:07 How a wound-care mentor sparked the amnion idea

03:14 Early healing results in difficult head-and-neck wounds

06:22 Building a nurse-led program across specialties

08:26 From five-patient trial to permanent therapy

11:14 Processing, cross-matching, and infection precautions

13:53 How the $125,000 prize could grow the program

15:45 Why planned C-section donations are used

17:28 Assessing the whole patient, not just the wound

19:57 Recognition for interdisciplinary nursing innovation

Key takeaways

Great nursing ideas often start with a mentor who shows you what’s possible.

Amniotic membrane is a powerful tissue that may reduce inflammation, scarring, and pain.

A small pilot with strong outcomes and clear before-and-after images can turn into a permanent program.

Donated tissue only works if the supply is sustained, so education and donor engagement matter.

Wound care is an art and a science. Assess the person, their history, and why the wound developed.

Interdisciplinary collaboration is what makes nurse-led innovation stick.

About Nely Amaral and Anna Kha

Nely Amaral, RN, BScN, is the Magnet Program Director at Sinai Health, and Anna Kha, CNS, is a clinical nurse specialist in wound care at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto. Together they lead Mothers Healing Others, the 2026 Magnet Prize-winning program using donated amniotic membrane as a wound care therapy.

Connect with Nely and Anna

Nely Amaral, RN, BScN, on LinkedIn: [link]

Sinai Health: sinaihealth.ca

Resources mentioned

Mothers Healing Others, Mount Sinai Hospital Toronto
Mount Sinai Hospital Tissue and Bone Bank
ANCC Magnet Prize
ANCC Magnet & Pathway Conference: magnetpathwaycon.nursingworld.org

About your host

Rosa Hart, BSN, RN, SCRN, FLAA, is a nurse, speaker, podcaster, and author of Speak Up, Start Now, available on Audible and Kindle.

Follow along @NurseRosaSpeaks.

Did you know a mother’s gift at birth could help heal someone else’s wound? Tell us in the comments, and share this episode with a wound care nurse who’d love this story.

Research nurses and coordinators didn’t go into healthcare to copy data from one screen into another, yet that’s exactly where a huge share of their time goes. In this episode of Nurse Rosa’s INsights, hear from Joe Lengfellner, Chief Product and Technology Officer at IgniteData and former Senior Director of Clinical Research Informatics and Technology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

Joe shares what he saw at MSK, where roughly 1,800 research studies meant coordinators and nurses were manually moving data from health records and paper questionnaires into sponsor systems. We dig into how IgniteData’s Archer platform connects directly to the EHR, lets coordinators review the data, and sends it to the sponsor with one click, cutting manual error rates that can reach 8 to 10 percent and boosting efficiency by 60 to 70 percent.

We also talk about why training takes less than 20 minutes, how Archer is now live at 9 of the top 10 U.S. cancer centers, why it never stores patient data, and where AI actually helps (hint: it’s the unstructured stuff like pathology and radiology reports). Plus, we get real about platform fatigue, the FDA’s push toward real time clinical trials, and how Joe would spend a billion dollars to fix healthcare’s interoperability problem.

If you work in clinical research, lead a research site, build health tech, or invest in it, this one’s for you.

Timestamps

0:00 Welcome Joe Lengfellner of IgniteData

1:18 The biggest technology headaches at clinical trial sites

2:02 The manual data problem at MSK

3:43 How IgniteData removes the human middleman

4:34 How the Archer platform works

5:47 Human error, data accuracy, and freeing up research teams

8:01 Training in under 20 minutes and unlearning old habits

10:45 Where Archer is live today, from top cancer centers to global sites

12:02 How faster data gets new treatments to patients sooner

14:28 Privacy first: why Archer stores no patient data

17:17 Where AI fits and where it doesn’t

20:51 What to ask before choosing a data platform

22:46 Platform fatigue and the doorway effect

26:31 The FDA and real time clinical trials

29:19 The billion dollar question

32:55 How to connect with Joe

About Joe Lengfellner

Joe Lengfellner is Chief Product and Technology Officer at IgniteData, where he leads product innovation focused on making hospital to sponsor clinical data flow fast, reliable, and research ready. Before IgniteData, he spent more than 15 years at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, most recently as Senior Director of Clinical Research Informatics and Technology, leading a team supporting MSK’s global clinical research portfolio. He holds a BS in Psychology from Stony Brook University.

Connect with Joe and IgniteData

Joe on LinkedIn

Resources mentioned

American Heart Association Get With The Guidelines program
FDA real time clinical trials initiative

About your host

Rosa Hart, BSN, RN, SCRN, FLAA, is a nurse, speaker, podcaster, and author of Speak Up, Start Now, available on Audible & Kindle.,

Follow along @NurseRosaSpeaks.

What would YOU do with a billion dollars to fix healthcare? Share your idea with us in the comments, and don’t forget to like, subscribe, and share this episode with a colleague in clinical research.

Recorded live at Magnet 2026 in Chicago.

Nurses are being asked to adopt AI, carry heavier workloads, and stay safe at work, often without a say in any of it. In this episode of Nurse Rosa’s INsights, I sit down with Dr. Jennifer Mensik Kennedy, president of the American Nurses Association, to talk about what it really takes for nurses to shape the decisions that shape our practice.

Jennifer opens up about her TIME100 recognition and why advocating for advanced practice nurses mattered so much to her. We get into why voting is one of the most practical forms of nursing advocacy, ANA’s push on workplace violence prevention (including better incident tracking and OSHA involvement), and the fight for more than $300 million a year in Title VIII nursing workforce funding, compared with the $20 billion plus that goes to graduate medical education.

Then we turn to AI. Jennifer explains why AI can support nursing work but should never replace clinical judgment, and shares the Oregon legislation she helped shape with nurse Representative Travis Nelson to keep non-human AI agents from using the RN or LPN title. We close on nurse-led innovation and why protecting your ideas and intellectual property needs to happen early, not after someone else profits from them.

If you’re a nurse, a nurse leader, or you build or invest in healthcare technology, this one’s for you.

Timestamps

00:00 Rosa Hart welcomes ANA president Jennifer Mensik Kennedy02:36 Nursing advocacy, elections, and federal priorities

04:40 The fight for Title VIII nursing education funding

05:49 Why nurses belong in local and state advocacy

09:09 AI needs nurses’ voices, not just their labor

10:46 Oregon moves to protect RN and LPN titles from AI

11:37 Keeping clinical judgment central to healthcare AI

12:18 Nurse-led innovation and protecting intellectual property

14:34 Seeking federal and state protections early

14:54 Closing from MagnetKey takeawaysVoting is advocacy, and nurses can move policy at the local, state, and federal level.Workplace violence can’t be fixed if it isn’t tracked accurately.

Nursing education funding is a fraction of what medical education receives.

AI can support nursing work, but it can’t hold a nursing license or replace clinical judgment.

Nurses should be in the room for technology selection, governance, training review, and escalation pathways.Your ideas have value. Protect them early.

About Dr. Jennifer Mensik Kennedy, PhD, MBA, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN, is the 38th president of the American Nurses Association, representing the nation’s nurses on policy, practice, and workforce issues. She was recognized by TIME in 2026 for her advocacy, particularly on behalf of advanced practice nurses.

Connect with Jennifer Mensik Kennedy on LinkedIn

American Nurses Association: nursingworld.org

Resources mentioned:ANA innovation resources: nursingworld.orgTitle VIII Nursing Workforce Development Programs

ANCC Magnet & Pathway Conference: magnetpathwaycon.nursingworld.orgAbout your hostRosa Hart, BSN, RN, SCRN, FLAA, is a nurse, speaker, podcaster, and author of Speak Up, Start Now, available on Audible and Kindle.

Follow along @NurseRosaSpeaks

Should AI ever be allowed to call itself a nurse? Tell us in the comments, and share this episode with a nurse who needs a reminder that their voice matters.

Recorded live at the ANCC Magnet & Pathway Conference 2026 in Chicago, hear from Angela Beddoe, CEO of the American Nurses Enterprise, and Corenza Townsend, LPN and Chief Administrative Officer of Norton West Louisville Hospital.

Angela shares conference highlights, and describes the vote to bring LPNs and LVNs into the American Nurses Association, an equity issue members have discussed for nearly a decade.

Corenza has a clear message for LPNs: a nurse is a nurse is a nurse, and the door’s wide open. She also shares how speaking up helped lead to a hospital being built in West Louisville.

A reminder that leadership is about action; it isn’t about titles or the letters after your name. Every nurse’s voice matters.

Timestamps

0:00 Welcome, live from Magnet & Pathway

0:43 Day-one highlights

1:41 What LPNs should look for next year

2:05 “A nurse is a nurse is a nurse”

2:50 The vote to bring LPNs and LVNs into the ANA

3:19 What’s next in 2027

3:52 Speaking up and building a hospital

4:33 Why your voice matters

About the host

Rosa Hart, BSN, RN, SCRN, FLAA, is a nurse, speaker, podcaster, and author of Speak Up, Start Now, available on Audible & Kindle.

Follow @NurseRosaSpeaks

Recorded LIVE in Chicago, hear from Bradley Goettl, CNO of the American Nurses Enterprise, and Sarah Gray, Senior Vice President of Nursing Impact at the ANA. They discuss the newly released fifth edition of the Nursing: Scope and Standards of Practice.

Learn what changed, why it matters for the profession, and how the new AI guidance keeps clinical judgment with nurses.

Timestamps:

0:10: Welcome and introductions. Bradley Goettl (CNO, ANA) and Sarah Gray (SVP of Nursing Impact, ANA) join Rosa after speaking on stage about the new scope and standards.

0:39: What's new? The document was not rewritten from the ground up. It is reviewed every five years through a rigorous process of about 48 months. Two additions: innovation and AI.

1:50: Is nursing a profession? This is the fifth edition. It is the foundational description of the profession, grounded in science and evidence, and it came out alongside the push to recognize advanced practice nursing as an advanced practice degree.

2:51: Who does it cover? It is the foundational RN document and applies to every RN, including advanced practice nurses. LPNs/LVNs are not part of it yet. The membership assembly decided in 2026 to include them in ANA membership, so they are being considered for the future.

4:07: "Written by nurses, made for nurses." Nurses define nursing practice, and the profession is self-governing.

4:27: Innovation. Nurses are natural innovators. The new section covers the process of innovation and critical problem-solving, not just workarounds.

5:11: AI in the document. The section is brief by design. Nurses remain in charge of clinical judgment and safe care.

6:12: Keeping pace with AI. Public comment recently opened on ethical principles for AI.

6:40: Accountability. If AI makes the decision, should the nurse's license be on the line? The guests discuss accountability when a nurse confirms or agrees, and "see something, say something."

7:30: AI can reduce cognitive burden and spot trends, but personal judgment is the human part of nursing.

8:04: A quote from page 81. AI-enabled information is "one input" into professional decision-making and should be treated as supportive information, not final authority.

8:55: Governance and licensure support. ANA will keep developing guidance beyond a document with a five-year shelf life.

9:15: Where the guidance helps most. It helps nurses take part in hospital AI policy conversations, with a focus on prevention rather than legal protection.

9:49: ANA's AI think tank brought together industry leaders, nursing and technology experts, across generations and geographies. It is producing tools for nurses, leaders and policymakers.

10:33: Policy advocacy and lobbying on AI.

11:00: State-level conversations. State nursing associations can use the guidelines with legislatures. ANA's government affairs team works with the constituent and state nursing associations.

12:00: How to get it. It is available as a paper book (smaller than past editions) and as an e-copy.

12:44: Not meant to be memorized. Treat it like a drug reference book. Most content is familiar from nursing education, and leaders should know it to support their staff.

13:29: Thanks and sign-off.

The fifth edition adds innovation and AI.

It is the foundational RN document, and it applies to all RNs regardless of specialty or role.

AI is supportive information, not final authority. Clinical judgment stays with the nurse.

It is available in print and as an e-copy.

About your host Rosa Hart, BSN, RN, SCRN, FLAA, is a nurse, speaker, podcaster, and author of "Speak Up, Start Now", available on Audible & Kindle.

Follow along @NurseRosaSpeaks