Technology and nursing

[Catcar1963]

I just jumped on the Fitbit bandwagon, and thought this technology could make my job easier. I am a home care nurse for an active patient on a ventilator. He is also developmentally delayed, so sometimes it's a challenge to monitor his vitals. Wouldn't it be great if he could wear a tracker wristband that monitors HR, SPO2, temp, etc? I looked it up and apparently there is ongoing research for this item. Has anyone else heard of such a thing? What else would you want a wristband to monitor?

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

In the deep, dark recesses of my memory... I recall some work being done by OHSU (Oregon Health Science University) Informatics. They utilized the sneaker thingies (probably Nike because they are also headquartered in Portland) to monitor the activity levels of LTC patients. This was a few years ag0. At the time, I remember thinking it was such a simple and elegant solution for ambulatory patients- not interfering with their sense of privacy at all.

Maybe you could interest the FitBit peeps in funding a research project??

[Kitiger, RN]

I can see how it could measure heart rate, but SpO2 on the wrist with an active kid seems too much to ask. It would be great, though.

[Catcar1963]

The website for the investigating company is scanadu.com. I'm going to contact Fitbit!

[mmc51264, BSN, MSN, RN]

there is work on a wristband that measure blood sugar in real time. I have 2 Type 1 kids and they wear continuous glucose monitors that bluetooth to an iPhone so hubby and I can follow their blood sugars real time. The technology in diabetes has exploded over the last 5 years. I imagine that it will for other conditions as well

[That Guy, BSN, RN, EMT-B]

I would rather just have a LINQ implanted that could do all that. If it can read heart rhythms its not far from other things.