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t m c » p u l s e | n o v e m b e r 2 0 1 5 5 N estled inside the John Sealy Hospital at The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB), nurses and health care professionals are tinkering away. Safety goggles rest on shelves next to engineering manuals, Velcro, zip ties and multipur- pose plastic coating. A pristine white cube harbors a 3-D printer while a sewing machine, laser cutter and soldering iron add to the illusion of a grown-up's designer playground. Crisp red letters stamped on the wall neatly delineate different workstations, from "Digital Design and Fabrication" to an area dubbed "Build and Assemble," fully stocked with enough wrenches and power tools to fulfill any workman's wildest whim. An elegant hybrid of high-tech prototyping equipment, traditional workshop and design tools, and an everyday supply closet, the MakerHealth Space at UTMB—the first permanent makerspace in the country for health care providers—is poised to change the way we think about innovation in health care. The result of a unified effort by MakerNurse and UTMB, with the support of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the MakerHealth Space will empower nurses and other medical staff to bring their ideas for improving care to life—and spread their innovations throughout the health care system. "Everybody is looking for ways to do things more efficiently in health care," said David Marshall, head of nursing at UTMB. "We think it makes sense to have the space in the hospital near where patient care is provided. This way, if there is some time during the day where providers have an idea in mind, they can go up to the space and explore their idea. The process of nursing incor- porates both an art and a science to it. […] Being able to sit there and figure out what's going to work for that exact patient—and then having the tools and resources at MakerHealth to bring it into reality—is a great way to leverage both sides of the profession. — JASON SHEAFFER Blocker Burn Unit Nurse at UTMB B y A l e x O r l a n d o Innovations in the Making The nation's first permanent medical makerspace opens at The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston