pediatric wristbands

[trixie]

Hello!

We have implemented Bedside Medication Verification on all of our inpatient units. Pediatrics is not happy. They place the young child's wristband on it's ankle, then they must "dig" to locate it to scan the patient when giving medications. This is especially a problem at night.

I am not a pediatric nurse, so I have no solution for them. What is everyone else doing???

Thanks,

Kim in PA

[JadedCPN, BSN, RN]

As a night shift peds nurse, doing ANYTHING at night can be a challenge and frustrating at times! Depending on the age, the band could be placed on the wrist so you don't have to dig too much. The only other suggestion for a young newborn with an ID on the ankle would be to try to keep that foot out when swaddling the patient.

[HRM672]

They make a plastic extender device to have the nameband attached, but out of the swaddle. We trialed one last year. The way it works is the patient is wearing a posey velcro type band, the plastic loop gives it another 6 or 8 inches or so to extend out of the swaddle, and the ID is attached to that.