Ideal Hospitals

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If we the Nurses could plan a perfect hospital what would you include?

i am dying to hear what people want especially as i feel that although Nurses are involved in planning hospital services somewhere its at that level where those kind of directors havent nursed for ages and have no idea what it's like

please post your ideas please (Sorry for bad grammar etc.)

:D :rolleyes:

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Potty behind the nurse's station.

No need to punch out for breaks

Showers and lockers for nurses doing doubles, free meals, and 1/2 hour break between shifts

Rooms large enough to fit a lounge chair or two in for families staying with pts.

Rooms large enough to move around in, period :rolleyes:

Design room so that equipment hookups are near the middle of the room, with the bathroom in BETWEEN the beds in a semi-private room. There would be a fold-out metal IV pole from the wall near the bathroom with an optional pump attachment piece to hang the IV's on and Pts could go to the potty without having to drag the pole with them.....

doctors would have to TYPE their orders and progress notes, which would print out separately at the station for the Unit Secretaries to put in, and and orders would simultaneously print at the pharmacy.

I like our tube system for saving steps transporting certain items to and from various parts of the hospital, so that would stay.

I also like the way the Pyxis is set up; keep that.

I do wish that we could have a little locked "IV supply box" with flushes, IV start kits, and alligator clips, gauze pads, and such right there at the bedside because nothing makes more of a mess than a pt-dc'd iv. :o

sorry this was so long, but i like interior design, so I've thought about this stuff for awhile.... ;)

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1. More nurses than managers, and more facilities for nurses than managers (ie, spend the money on new hoists and electric beds instead of another computer for another paper pusher in another office)

2. Sluices/linen rooms and chutes etc placed at reasonable distances apart, not one of each for a 200yd long ward

3. Those funky call light/pager systems that tell you everything - they were discussed in another thread and I was soooo impressed

4. Obs monitors above every bed - nothing fancy, but a sphyg, tympanic thermometer + pulse oximeter for every pt. Just think, no more fighting over which end of the ward gets to use the 'good' Dinamap that doesn't have to be plugged in for each pt!

5. Remote monitoring of communal areas like dayrooms if they're not regularly frequented by staff

6. A soundproofed nurse's room with reclining chairs, coffee/chocolate machine, dining table and chairs, regularly updated journals, texts and magazines. Microwave and Dualit toaster, fridge big enough for all staff to use at once, drinks and bread and bikkies supplied and replenished daily.

7. No more beds that you have to break your back over. Profiling beds for every pt if appropriate, power assisted if not. Sheets and blankets disposed of when worn out, not sent back to the ward to be used for another year.

8. Dumb-waiter from the canteen to each nurses room to save the 15min round journey to get your meal.

9. Single bedrooms for staff working late-earlies if they don't want to drive home for 4 hours then come straight back.

10. Ceiling-mounted hoists in all rooms.

11. Working ECG machines on each ward.

Many many more but I am obviously in selfish-nurse mode, not pt-first mode. Nurses need to be looked after in order for us to look after the pts.

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But wait, there's more!

Over-bed units with phone, radio and cable TV. Pts or their visitors buy cards to pay and nobody argues over channels or excessive noise. Unused or leftover cards get donated to long-stay pts.

Max of 2 beds in a room, bathroom in each room.

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My hospital "network" is opening up a brand new hospital, and the docs put their own orders into the computer - no transcribing.

On the floors, instead of curtains, they have special windows where at the flip of a switch, they fog over allowing for privacy.

All the beds have cardiac chair capability - no more sliding pts over, placing lines and ETT's at risk of being yanked...

I'm not sure about the other units, but in the SICU (CVRR), there is a computer/monitor in the breakroom, so that you could watch your pt or chart and actually get away from the unit somewhat.

They have the little call light/cellphone thingies...

Major drawback; no nurses' stations. They have little computer stations every couple of rooms or so...

Now if we could just have clone nurses, so they could do the work while we went out and had some fun... ;)

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good thread!

any more ideas?

*bump!*

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Originally posted by ERNurse752

All the beds have cardiac chair capability - no more sliding pts over, placing lines and ETT's at risk of being yanked...

What do you mean by cardiac chair capability? Never heard this description before....

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oh yeah!

and a "No Lift Policy"

beds that go all the way to the floor for potential fall risks and raise to working height for staff

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and Rik mattresses for all Braden scores of 12 or less!

* I could get into this!* :D

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No patients. Duh.

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Well aren't you going to make a wonderful nurse...:rolleyes:

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Originally posted by BritishStudent

No patients. Duh.

:eek: :confused:

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