Nurses, invent what you want.

[x4livin, ADN]

A few years ago, we were talking about how cool it would be to have a way to hook suction up to a patient's genitals and simply vacuum away the urine, and then someone invented the primafit. Years ago, we were talking about how the docs were prescribing Vicodin for arthritis pain, and how cool it would be if they would combine ibuprofen with the hydrocodone instead of acetaminophen because it would also act as an anti-inflammatory...and then someone invented Vicoprofin. What healthcare products have you "invented", only to see it come to fruition as an actual invention? What healthcare products/meds would you invent, if you had the means to produce it. Maybe we can get together and make some things happen and create some things to work smarter, not harder. I would like to see wireless tele, stick on forehead temp probes(wireless), a better way to check blood sugar in patient than relentlessly poking sore, fragile fingers, and a butt coating product that stayed on to stop further excoriation from loose stools. (I probably want much more, but that's all I can think of off hand.)

[Davey Do]

Here's a popular idea that some of the allnurses members suggested, x4livin:

 

[SilverBells, BSN]

A way to screen patients/families to determine if they'll be annoying or problematic and then automatically reject them if they meet certain criteria before even allowing an admission...

[Hannahbanana, BSN, MSN]

A hunnert or so years ago our big ICU was trialing new monitoring systems. One was really popular, as besides being really good it had individual modules that snapped in and out of slots in the wall mounts, the smaller boxes for transport, and tele, each carrying the history along with it.

Only problem was that they didn’t light up until plugged into a slot, and went into their slots upside down or right side up, being symmetrically rectangular, with no easy way to look at them and say, yep, this way. So we were about 50:50 on getting it right the first time. I thought a visual cue would be easy and not require any re-engineering, so I put small stickies on one end of the slots, and a second set on the correct side of the interchangeable modules. All you had to do was line up those two indicators side by side, and boom, perfect every time.

I pointed this out to the company rep as a suggestion. I later heard him telling his coworker that nurses had great ideas and you could get them for the price of a pizza or a box of doughnuts. I told him he could have mine for a good bottle of scotch.  Got it, too, but he probably got a big raise. 

[Hannahbanana, BSN, MSN]

Oh, and more than one nurse has intuited the great value of an Ativan atomizer for PRN use.
 

I have seen all four of your other suggestions in use already. ?

 

 

[Davey Do]

3 hours ago, SilverBells said:

A way to screen patients/families to determine if they'll be annoying or problematic and then automatically reject them if they meet certain criteria before even allowing an admission...

 

[x4livin, ADN]

2 hours ago, Hannahbanana said:

Oh, and more than one nurse has intuited the great value of an Ativan atomizer for PRN use.
 

I have seen all four of your other suggestions in use already. ?

 

 

I have been trying to get someone to invent aerosol valium (in a spray can...like fly spray or air freshener) for years. I think it could be good for the staff, patients, families. make it a nice, light berry scented spray. They make valium suckers for hospice kids and narcotic suckers for pedi burn units. If they would leave these outside the ER, (just one big styrofoam ball with suckers stuck down in it like a big covid virus model, they could just take one and go away)...in the waiting room., most patients wouldn't actually need to even register.

[RNperdiem, RN]

I want to see a scanner that detects gastric residual, just like a bladder scanner. I hate drawing up large amounts of tube feeds with a syringe.

[SilverBells, BSN]

2 hours ago, Davey Do said:

 

Perfect. I have three patients/families that are finding themselves further towards the right on a daily basis.  If only such a thing was present prior to them admitting to us ?

[x4livin, ADN]

1 hour ago, RNperdiem said:

I want to see a scanner that detects gastric residual, just like a bladder scanner. I hate drawing up large amounts of tube feeds with a syringe.

THIS is genius. I wonder if a bladder scanner would pick up a liquid volume on a stomach. I am going to try that for kicks at work and see if it picks up anything.

[guest1163268]

How about a behavior modification device like an itching spray for horrible relatives with a five minute delayed reaction. In Psych we get really bad relatives visiting sometimes, who due to ignorance or just evil intentions, do everything possible to sabotage the care plan or derail any success we might have had. I would like a an itching spray that could be surreptitiously administered with a delayed reaction when they are visiting in the dining room or a highly visible area that's monitored, so we can enjoy the spectacle from a discrete distance and no one can be blamed ?????. 

[JBMmom, MSN, NP]

I wish that the monitors in the unit could be made wireless. We have wireless technology as small as earbuds, why can't the tele leads and pulse ox have a similar thing. Then again, that might exist already, but my hospital wouldn't pay a penny extra for it.