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Background Healthcare organisations, including hospices, are facing unprecedented demand to do more with less. To meet this demand, hospices must think differently and challenge standard practice. Professional curiosity is an emerging concept within nursing practice believed to promote innovation and change, and improve performance. Its application within a hospice environment warrants further exploration.Objective To understand the role of professional curiosity and how to embed this within a hospice culture, providing recommendations for clinical practice.Design and methods A systematised review was conducted, searching seven electronic databases (Epistemonikos, TRIP, OVID, CINAHL, Medline, PubMed and ProQuest). The search process looked for studies including keywords (nurse leaders, professional curiosity and innovation). This yielded 159 studies, first screen excluded 115. Subsequently, 36 studies were reviewed, of which ten worldwide studies met the eligibility criteria. Quality appraisal was performed on included studies, followed by data extraction and narrative synthesis, enabling thematic analysis.Results Ten studies were identified, five cross-sectional, two qualitative, one meta-analysis, one expert opinion and one systematic review. All published between 2018 to 2024. Thematic analysis identified five main themes to creating and fostering a culture of professional curiosity;Psychological safety and trust.Building connections and relationships.Role modelling.Education and training.Recruitment and human resources.Leaders must role-model inquisitive behaviours and adapt their leadership style to develop trusting relationships, forming the foundation of a culture of professional curiosity. Enabling employees to feel safe questioning the ‘why’ was fundamental to innovation.Conclusion Professional curiosity is central to personal and professional development, service improvement and organisational sustainability, integral to the survival of hospice services. These findings may be used to develop education frameworks and assist nurse leaders to develop policy and guidelines. Future research is needed, particular in the United Kingdom and within hospice care.