NTI Highlights : What is that patient trying to say?

[Pfiesty]

I went to the Critical Care Nurses annual conference (AACN NTI) last week in Houston. There the COOLEST thing exhibited by LC Technologies! There was an eye-operated communication device called the Eyegaze Edge that really works in the hospital so patients can "speak using just their eyes." (Eyevoice) Really, you could HEAR them. OK, so you could hear the computer, but they did it with their eyes only.

It was unique in that it works using only one eye, because many of our patients have disconjugate gaze, and the devices designed for two eyes just are too inaccurate.

It also works well with pathological eye movements because the special software compensates for the erratic eye movements and keeps it accurate. The screens were designed for ICU use with common phrases, but were customizable.

We nurses also typed on the keyboard. This fixes the problem of guessing what our patients need when they can't talk, or pointing to boards to help with our guesses (and rarely works). Incredible!

It also had a very low source light which is so much better for the patients. I've seen others with such bright lights that it hurt my own eyes. This one for multi-patient, hospital use was really "wow."

And that eye follower is incredible. My patients slide all over in the bed and this follows them in real time. What took me over an hour to guess what my patients want was done in seconds. The design elements were just pure genius. As an ICU nurse, I can not function well without this tool. We all loved it.

Our patients have a right to be heard and this is the only way many of them can do that. wow. #AACN #NTIAACN #eye-voice #eyegaze

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[BedsideNurse]

That's is totally crazy. Never heard of it but really cool.

[Pfiesty]

I know! Really! One nurse before me tried it and started crying! She said she recently took car of a colleague with ascending paralysis (but not GBS?) Anyway, they spent an agonizing one and a half hours trying to figure out what she was trying to say around her ETT. Turns out she was trying to ask to be taken outside so she could feel the sun on her face one last time! She said she could have done it in 30 seconds with this! (Misty!)