Background: Recently, global nursing experts have been aggressively encouraging nurses to pursue creativity and innovation in nursing to improve nursing outcomes. Nurses' creativity plays a significant role in health and well-being. In most health systems across the world, nurses provide up to 80% of the primary health care; therefore, they are critically positioned to provide creative solutions for current and future global health challenges.
Objectives: The purpose of this study was to explore Iranian nurses' perceptions and experiences toward the expression of creativity in clinical settings and the outcomes of their creativity for health care organizations.
Patients and methods: A qualitative approach using content analysis was adopted. Data were collected through in-depth semistructured interviews with 14 nurses who were involved in the creative process in educational hospitals affiliated to Jahrom and Tehran Universities of Medical Sciences in Iran.
Results: Four themes emerged from the data analysis, including a) Improvement in quality of patient care, b) Improvement in nurses' quality of work, personal and social life, c) Promotion of organization, and d) Unpleasant outcomes.
Conclusions: The findings indicated that nurses' creativity in health care organizations can lead to major changes of nursing practice, improvement of care and organizational performance. Therefore, policymakers, nurse educators, nursing and hospital managers should provide a nurturing environment that is conducive to creative thinking, giving the nurses opportunity for flexibility, creativity, support for change, and risk taking.
Keywords: Creativity; Innovation; Iran; Nurses; Outcomes; Qualitative Content Analysis.