If you could invent nursing supplies, what would it be?

[rn2bn07]

There are so many things in nursing that we use that could have been built or remodeled to better the quality and comfort of our patients. Personally, I hate gluing fecal pouches on pt's bottoms with fragile skin and breakdown. As soon as, the glue hit their skin they are squirming and screaming. Even with intubated pt's, you can tell its painful because their vitals start doing crazy things. I wish I could reinvent something more comfortable and easier to apply these where it would also be effective for the pt and for me.

[JoAnnS]

A computer system and a hand held one for the nurse with the med cart. with an added motion sensor for all the residents.

The Care plan book would be wonderful and all the other paper happy things we have in our place. They are too paper happy

[CathLabNursePA]

A virtual nurse that answers call lights. Then patient can choose from options.....press one for blah blah....press two for blah blah.....And then the virtual voice informs them its not time for your meds etc.....

[BabyLady, BSN, RN]

Acme Physician Shut-Up Spray

It would come in an aerosol can and whenever a Physician said something rude or stupid, you just spray it in their face...it would paralyze their vocal cords to where they couldn't make a sound.

I think it would be a big hit.

Who would buy?

[ScrappyED, BSN, RN]

The wireless telemetry pads and wireless BP and pulse ox monitors are something I've been wanting desperately ever since starting in the ER! I tell all my patients as I'm hooking them up that if they could invent ones that were cheap enough for hospital admin to buy them they'd get rich!! You know that stuff is out there (think N.A.S.A) but it is just cost prohibitive!

My other suggestion is some kind of mouth insert that all of my NPO pts could use whenever the are "dying" of thirst and hunger. It would moisturize their mouth and taste like food or something. Maybe a type of chew toy that they can't accidently swallow. Maybe the dog industry would have an idea. HHhhhhmmmmm.

[oldnurse1]

Wireless vital sign monitors. I know there are portable telemetry boxes, but the cords on our bedside monitors with BP and O2 sat cables always get tangled up and are a pain when transporting pts from the ED.

[Heather56]

for at triage in the er a biometric scanner that you can scan a person and immediatly get a diagnosis. If the person hasn't anything wrong or only shows up as a minor cold or such you can then instanly transport them out to the dept, where I'll leave it to your imagination.

[melpn]

Didn't read the thread (insomniac night shifter due back tonight) and someone may have already covered this, but here goes. Try applying the skin prep to the wafer instead of the skin and letting it dry first (it doesn't help w/ their poor red weepy skin anyway) and make sure he wafer isn't cold. Ours always end up on a windowsill or in a drawer next to one and the adhesive just won't stick when it's cold. Holding your hand over the area after application to warm it helps (or get the pt. to if they can). Works for those fentanyl patches that don't ever want to stay on too. Oh, and to answer the actual question- Extra Strength Family Repellent. In a spray can. Not for all, just for some.

[Dublin37]

I saw this used for an AIDS pt. It was wonderful, and saved him from sooo much pain.

[Caffeine_IV]

-Beds that very gently rocked a patient that had trouble sleeping.

-IV that shocked the patient whenever they tried to mess with it..you know the ones that "accidently" pull them out

-A hand that would pinch family members when they disturb the patient you spent several minutes calming

-All of the items controlled by a panel outside of the patient room

[leslie :-D]

Bed that works like a grocery store checkout belt (where you put he items down on).

When the pt. needs moved up, just push the button and they go back to the top of the bed.

The sheets and stuff that'd work with this would be interesting, but think of the backs we'd save.

i was thinking along the same lines...

some sort of gizmo that repositions and even lifts pts up in the air, while we do bed changes.

an electronic hoist, if you will.

leslie

[inland18mempire]

I really like the moveable bed idea (to help move them up!). It would also be pretty cool to have the bed surface move laterally to transfer patient's from bed to bed. Oh my, our backs would be so much better! My hospital already has beds that automatically turn patients q1h (or however long your set it for) that have/are proned to skin breakdown. It's a lifesaver.

[Flare, ASN, BSN]

i always thought it would be nice if nurses were issued some sort of foam bat (like Nerf type) and were given the right to whack the living bejesus out of one patient a month (2 family members too!). Also - the beatings could be saved up like rollover minutes. Also works with bossy doctors, pesky interns and know-it-all residents! :trout::rotfl: