...or some other staff-to-staff communication device?
My sis recently started working an ED that uses shoulder-mounted walkie-talkies (a la cops). I have to say, I'm so jealous! I spend so much time in my day trying to find an aide, trying to find a specific nurse, etc. I can imagine so many reasons why this would be incredibly useful on our unit, especially for a couple people I can think of right off who frequently *disappear* into their own little holes in the space-time continuum. (A couple of whom HAVE been overhead paged after a pattern of disappearances.) It also strikes me as being much safer for nursing staff and patients, when immediate help is just a call over the walkie away.
My thoughts on this are that a more closed system, like an earpiece w/ mic (a la Old Navy:lol2:) is more appropriate in a med-surg setting because of a potential HIPAA issue. Me, I prefer a hands-free means of communication. Right now we have cell phones (which weigh like 3lbs, I kid you not), which inevitably ring in our pocket while transferring an unstable pt or doing something similar. I do wonder if a constant chatter would drive me batty, but at the same time I really feel the positives would outweigh the negatives.
Wonder how I could talk my manager into this one ... it's gotta have a customer service angle somewhere...
Specializes in ICU. Med/Surg: Ortho, Neuro, & Cardiac.
the hospital i work at now has us wear an extra badge that tracks us and tells what room we're in at the nurses' station...so you can call employees in a pt's room if there is an urgent matter at hand.
charge nurses, respiratory, and the house supervisor carry a type of cell phone that only works inside the hospital. and when i float to ICU the aides carry a cordless that works in the unit...unless you're the only aide then you get a spiffy cell phone thing so the nurses can call you on break, or on your way to the lab, pharmacy, etc.
I saw nurses and aides using the Vocera system. It looked like a fairly user friendly system..
There is a vocera system where I work. They are pretty nice to have. I think in the study they did at my hospital, it saves the average floor nurse about 800ft of walking per day or something like that. You just press the button and say the name of whoever you want to reach. Plus you can just say, generically, "Respiratory Therapist" and it will connect you to the respiratory therapist assigned to your floor...saves time cuz you don't have to page them.
The downsides are
1) The vocera tracks your location. If your manager is so inclinced, they can find out where you are or where you've been at any given time throughout your shift. Not that I'm paranoid, but I leave it up on the floor when I take a minute or two to run downstairs to the vending machine for a soda.
2) Sometimes the vocera's voice recognition doesn't work very well, especially for people that have hard to pronounce names or names with complicated spellings.
JaredCNA, CNA
281 Posts
the hospital i work at now has us wear an extra badge that tracks us and tells what room we're in at the nurses' station...so you can call employees in a pt's room if there is an urgent matter at hand.
charge nurses, respiratory, and the house supervisor carry a type of cell phone that only works inside the hospital. and when i float to ICU the aides carry a cordless that works in the unit...unless you're the only aide then you get a spiffy cell phone thing so the nurses can call you on break, or on your way to the lab, pharmacy, etc.