Joyce Clifford's central idea was to give nurses working closely with patients the authority to direct their care. This meant shifting authority away from nurse supervisors and allowing clinical and staff nurses to make decisions. It was a revolutionary concept, one that helped turn Beth Israel Hospital (now BI/Deaconess, part of Care Group) into one of the leading hospitals in the world for patient care.

Joyce Clifford currently serves as the Executive Director of The Institute for Nursing Healthcare Leadership, an affiliate of The Carl J. Shapiro Institute for Education and Research at Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. She devotes her time to creating ways to take care of the rapidly growing elderly population, to recruiting the next generation of primary care nurses, and to integrate genetic research into nursing education.