Technology That Helps Nurses Cut Down the Steps

Technology That Helps Nurses Cut Down the Steps

Posted by Alycia Sullivan on Fri, Jan 24, 2014 @ 10:04 AM

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A study commissioned by Herman Miller Healthcare showed that nurses walk up to four miles a day on their shift. Much of this is due to supplies not being readily available and the need for better communication, like keeping tabs patient location. Technology is beginning to make the job of the nurse easier by giving them better information, leading to less steps.

Real Time Locating Systems

Real Time Locating Systems, also known as RTLS, uses small tags attached to devices, making them easier to find. For example, a typical scenario finds the nurse walking from room to room to locate a blood pressure machine for use in their rounds. With an RTLS tag, the nurse can locate the machine on a dashboard at the nurses station. They may still have to walk to the end of the unit to retrieve the machine, but it will be a direct route.

Patient Locators

Similar to RTLS are devices that patients can wear to indicate their location, according to Villanova University. Tracking down a patient can be time consuming on a busy nursing unit. A nursing aid that has taken a patient to physical therapy and radiology calls up for the patient to come down for a test. The locator tags can prevent the hunting down of people who know where Mr. Johnson is by indicating that he is in PT.
Another use suggested for these locator tags is in monitoring patients who may wander out of their rooms and be difficult to track. Mental health units, neurology units and Alzheimer's treatment centers benefit from these devices.

Tools in Your Pocket

With smartphones and tablets, you can have a number of tools in your pocket to help you get through your day easier.
The Pocket Pharmacist is available for your iPhone, and gives you a drug reference list with interactions. Calculate by QxMD uses current clinical decision trees to determine the best course of treatment.
Other tools to help you with your nursing career include a wage calculator by Intuit to help you precisely calculate your time and paycheck amount, which is handy for those extra shifts and holiday hours you're asked to work. ShiftPlanning is a nursing shift scheduling tool that the charge nurse will find useful for tracking time and adjusting schedules.

Mobile Devices and EHR

Electronic Health Records (EHR) became mandatory as of January 1, 2014, notes USF Health. Institutions must begin making patient records available online. A study by American EHR on more than 800 health practitioners showed that 33 percent with access to EHR used a tablet to access patient information.
As tablets and mobile charts become more available on nursing units, the constant walking back and forth between patient and their information is reduced. Devices such as the iPad EHR by drChrono allow bedside status updates to be made once vitals and other observations are completed.

Patient Workflow

Nursing Critical Care highlights a software system used in a Pennsylvania hospital that helps save steps during a patient's discharge. When the patient is ready to be released, the nurse uses a workflow panel to contact the transportation department to pick up the patient. Once they have arrived and are leaving with the patient, they use the panel to contact the cleaning crew. Once the room is clean, they use the panel to contact the admitting patient, to tell them the room is ready. This keeps the nurse from walking to the room to see the status, so they can report back to admitting that the room is ready for the next patient.

14 pieces of advice for a new nurse

by Jo, RN • July 2, 2012  

1. Always have an extra pair of scrubs in your locker.
2. Rubbing alcohol will get almost any odor out of fabric. Shaving cream will get almost any odor off of skin.
3. There is no getting tincture of Benzoin off of anything.
4. If the post-op nurse turns a patient over to you with the assurance that he will be “easy-peasey,” disaster lurks around the corner.
5. The proper response to your digital thermometer reading “HI” is not “Heeeeeyyyy!”
6. Blood is not the worst thing that can get on your scrubs.
7. The amount of poop a patient produces is inversely proportional to her level of consciousness.
8. Fire, code or disaster drills will never happen in the middle of a calm day.
9. The number of obscure drug allergies a patient has is inversely proportional to his grasp on reality.
10. Little old ladies in no acute distress are much stronger than you imagine. Be careful.
11. If it can be torn off, braided into knots, knocked over, pulled out, wrapped around something vital or otherwise jacked up, a sedated patient with a severe head injury will do it.
12. If your lunch is particularly delicious, you will have no chance to eat it.
13. Caffeine is a food group of its own.
14. And finally, the number one rule of nursing that I want to share with every new nurse:
If you have to jack with it, it’s wrong. Anything that requires immense amounts of skull sweat to figure out is wrong somewhere. Back off, get a second opinion and for God’s sake stop messing with it. The longer you fool with it, whatever it is (drug calculation, foot pump or IV bolus), the more messed up it’ll get. Stop immediately and figure out where it’s wrong, then proceed.

15 ways nursing will change your life

by Sean Dent

Thinkstock | istockphoto

The nursing profession is changing. The average age of nurses and the average number of years of nursing experience both are decreasing. As a nurse with close to a decade of experience, I’m considered old.
I often wonder what the newer generations think they are getting into when they choose our profession. What do they think their job will be like? What do they think we actually do? How do they decide and say to themselves, “That’s what I want to do, that’s what I want to be”? I’ve recently discovered a lot of nurses are finding out the hard way what nursing is really like.
This is the REAL world of nursing:
1. Your feet will hurt.
2. Your back will ache.
3. You’ll start grinding your teeth in your sleep (if you didn’t already start in nursing school).
4. You’ll NEED to be in shape for this job.
5. This job will make you cry.
6. This job will scare you.
7. Many patients will not like you.
8. Most patients will test your limits.
9. Many patients are not nice. In fact, they’re downright mean.
10. You’ll rarely hear a “thank you.”
11. Your job is never done.
12. What you do directly affects others, ALL the time.
13. No one notices what you do–until you don’t do it.
14. You won’t get home on time. Hardly ever.
15. You’ll be the medical “go to” person for everyone on the block (sometimes at midnight on a Tuesday).
Sounds pretty bad, huh? This is why we constantly repeat the phrase, “Nursing is not for everyone.” You have to be tough in order to thrive in our world. The greatest thing about our profession, though, is that the benefits of our work GREATLY outweigh the risks.
But here are 15 ways nursing will change your life:
1. Your heart will grow 10 times its normal size.
2. Your compassion will exponentially expand.
3. You’ll develop strength where you once were afraid.
4. You’ll learn to push past your limits.
5. You’ll become resourceful.
6. You’ll develop keen decision-making skills.
7. You’ll become comfortable with being uncomfortable.
8. You’ll truly empathize and understand what loss really is.
9. You’ll impact human lives.
10. You’ll truly make a difference.
11. You’ll meet and befriend some amazing people.
12. You’ll find that the rare “thank you” and/or hug is worth it all.
13. You won’t do this job to be noticed.
14. You won’t do this job expecting to leave on time.
15. You’ll be proud to tell people you’re a nurse.
Sounds pretty good, huh? This is why we constantly repeat the phrase, “Nursing is not for everyone.”
The things that make our profession so tough are also the very same things that make this profession amazing. If it were easy, wouldn’t everybody be doing it?