Magnet behind nurses station?

[Pharmahaulic]

Good evening, my professor said that most healthcare facilities have some sort of magnet either behind the nurses station or over the medication room door... she wanted me to look up the meaning of it for tomorrow but the only thing I can find is that it relates to a facility being magnet status... I feel that is not the answer however. Can someone help me please.

[brownbook]

Oh possibly, what is the purpose of this?

Waaaaay above my pay grade, Google...Open Anesthesiology....Pacemaker & electrocautery.

But I think Davy Do has the answer your professor was looking for (or at).

[Orion81RN]

What the heck kind of school are you going to? What a waste of valuable time.

[meanmaryjean, DNP, RN]

Is she referring to the round pacemaker magnet that is used to put a pacemaker into asynchronous mode?

BINGO!

[Neats, BSN]

That is stinking funny!

[verene, MSN]

Maybe she is referring to indicator magnets on the census board? Not all hospitals have a census board in the nursing station or use magnets but I spent time as a student at a hospital that did. The board had room number, patient last name, provider/team, RN name, and magnets were used to mark different things the health team might need to be aware of at a glance (e.g. a green circle = "fall risk", red heart = "DNR on file", orange square = "isolation room" etc)

But I have no idea why she would set a research assignment on the topic as it is so hospital specific and you have to ask someone on the unit what their magnets mean in their hospital.

[Mavrick, BSN, RN]

Every surgical area I have ever worked on has the big "pacemaker magnet" stuck on the med room door jamb, code cart, anesthesia cart or other easily found metal object so we can find it. Anesthesia uses it to put a pacemaker in asynchronous mode so the settings won't be messed up during surgery where Electromagnetic Interference may occur (electrocautery, shockwave lithotripsy, radiofrequency ablation to name a few).

Sounds like a fun assignment to teach nursing students about pacemakers. Obviously not all practicing nurses are aware of the relationship between pacemakers and magnets.

[PeakRN]

Your instructor has sent you on a wild goose chase. My (slightly jaded) guess is that she believes that hospitals put in a "magnet" to block nurses from using their personal cell phones at the desk or in the med room. I have heard a couple iterations of hospitals putting in cell phone jammers or whatever for this. I have yet to see it.

She may have been referencing a Pacer/AICD magnet. We only use these in the ED when a pacer/AICD is malfunctioning and we are going to turn it off, this is incredibly rare and typically the patient is being repetitively shocked because the continue to enter a dangerous rhythm.

[JKL33]

Sounds like a fun assignment to teach nursing students about pacemakers. Obviously not all practicing nurses are aware of the relationship between pacemakers and magnets.

Well, that's the obvious use. I imagined the question asking about a stationary object. Our magnets aren't kept in either of those places.

[Mavrick, BSN, RN]

Most of the time it's such a usual part of the background people get used to seeing it and don't notice it anymore.

It's used in the OR for non-emergency purposes then when the patient gets to PACU we call the pacemaker rep in to interrogate and reprogram the pacer/AICD before the patient is discharged.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]26125[/ATTACH]

It's a pretty strong magnet so people sometimes use it to hold up posters and stuff.

[Julius Seizure]

Yes, for pacermakers!

Magnet Use: Pacemakers | St. Jude Medical

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

Is she referring to the round pacemaker magnet that is used to put a pacemaker into asynchronous mode?

That would be my vote.

[amoLucia]

Way back when ... I was taught that placing the round magnet over an implanted PM site would convert an 'on demand' PM to a 'fixed rated' PM. Was to be used in situations when a PM might be 'failing to sense' or 'failing to pace' on its own.

I knew it to be done only for emergency situations.

The magnets were stuck on the crash cart.