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

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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. :twocents:

Specializes in ICU/CCU, Home Health/Hospice, Cath Lab,.

I love this thread. It should stay around forever - so 20 years from now we can look back and go "OMG! You didn't have that when you were working. However did you survive."

For me I would invent:

1) A clipboard computer that can scan your patient. It takes vocal dictation for charting. It warns you when your charting is different from prior shifts. It can record telemetry. It can connect to a bluetooth in your stethescope and record lung, heart, and bowel sounds. It automatically updates from the IV pump and foley bag. It is smart so when you ask what you can do for your confused pt - it will say "You haven't given Haldol yet. 5mg IV. Why don't you try it?". You can type in requests for the doctor and he can write orders electronically back. It will tell you what to do in a code.

2) You know those antimicrobial foams they have outside pt rooms? I want a spray dispenser for a glove product. One that molds to the hands and doesn't stick to anything.

3) A spray disinfectant at the door to each room. No more gowns to wear or stupid stethescopes you can't hear through. Just hit the button and you and all your stuff gets zapped clean. Make it mandatory everytime you enter or leave a room (for those who think isolation doesn't apply to them).

4) A spray that highlights veins and deadens the skin for 2 minutes. An alarm on picc lines that shouts - you didn't flush me or clamp me - now I will clot off Nurse "name here". So everyone who walks by knows who to blame when the picc dies.

5) This is political - but I would make every place have the same charting. Make it universal and make it follow you when you enter another facility. So you come to the ER and get registered - it automatically calls up any prior visits from anywhere - any labs, xrays, etc and they are all in the same place.

6) A drug that knocks you out anywhere from 2 mins to 1 hr and doesn't depress the respiratory drive. Usefull for NG insertions, foley insertion, MRI's, CT scans, etc.

7) Beds on tracks so you can push a button and they trundle off to radiology or the cafeteria that has a drive through.

8) Bed alarms that restrain the patient until you get there. Like a big bear hug from behind when they try and get up.

Hopefully one day we will have them all

Pat

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Specializes in Med surg, Critical Care, LTC.

I'd like to see a robot that cleans up vomit, feces and other bodily fluids. It would also clean empty beds so that we don't have to hear "house keeping is busy, they will get to it as soon as they can". Nurses wear so many hats, when we have to assume housekeeping duties as well, it takes more valuable time away from the patient.

I'd like a robotic administration. It would actually be programmed to care about nursing concerns - not just the budget and outward appearances.

I'd like a nurse, an actual nurse, to be part of the architectural team that design the "new and improved" patient rooms and floor designs.

A valet to park our cars, so we can be let off at the entrance, rather than spending 30 minutes looking for a place to park, then another 30 minutes to get into work - we could call them prior to leaving, and our car would be heated and available upon leaving the hospital.

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Specializes in Med/Surg.
i know this thread is old but i think they need to invent gloves with finger pads that are just a little bit sticky... because i know i can't be the only one who's had a little "accident" when trying to clean out a brand new colostomy bag. there i am squirting water into the bag and whoosh! that smooth plastic just slipped right out of my fingers.

on the flip side, they also need to make gloves that don't get stuck and hopelessly tangled up when removing tape.

have you tried out the esteem stretchy nitrile gloves? they're not as thin as most nitrile gloves and the tips of the gloves have a different texture (rougher) than the rest of the glove; makes it easier to hang on to those slippery colostomy bags. oh and it is so tape-friendly (if there's such a term). our manager used to stock a couple of boxes in our supply cart and i was one of the few who just had to have it each time i came to work. now we use more of it than the neu-thera which was horrible when you had to do anything with tape.

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Haven't read all of this thread but a med cart made of lightweight durable plastic would be nice, instead of the giant 300lb metal monster we have now.

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Foley catheter with a light! :typing

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Specializes in NICU.

A pacifier with a built-in sucrose drip.

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I really like the foley with a light idea!!! Bravo!!:yeah:

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Specializes in Acute Care.
A bed alarm that actually said,"Please, lay back down" in a monotone voice to the pt, so that they would think that they had been caught.
We have one that says for the pt to stay where they are and use the call bell for assistance, then it starts alarming.
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a call bell that starts to zap you after you press it more than 10x/hr :jester:

:bow::balloons::rotfl::clpty:

amen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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I've had an idea for a long time for a Pez dispenser type thingy, only to use it for giving nitro tabs. Sometimes, trying to pick those little suckers up with gloves on can be a challenge, and I hate having to put my fingers in a patient's mouth to place it under the tounge. I actually came up with the idea on the ambulance (back in the days before nitro spray) where I more than once dropped the whole tiny bottle while fumbling with the teeny tiny tabs.

I kinda put it on the back burner when the spray came out. But now at my facility, we have a doc that abhors paste...and we don't carry spray. Just a little popper that you hit a button, and it pops out one perfectly placed tab. :smokin:

Hey here is one way I get nitro tabs under a patient's tongue without sticking my fingers in their mouth....use a straw, place under tongue...slide NTG tab through straw and VOILA! It's under there!

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Specializes in ER, ICU, Education.

A crash cart more like a super-pyxis that automatically records what is removed and tells you of any outdated meds in need of replacing. No more annoying rapid restocking.

A magical way to keep anesthesia from tangling up all the wires/tubing/lines. They always seem to tangle up mysteriously between the OR and the ICU.

A giant foot that kicks people in the butt who don't plug in IV pumps, dopplers, etc after use.

A nurse designed charting system that can be better customized to each area with easy to use tabs like on microsoft one note, lol. Ex- vitals, assessments, notes, meds, etc.

A sound-proof box for rude visitors.

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