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The other day I was at school, managing a to-do list that seemed longer than it had been a while. Between emails that needed to go out, chapters that needed to be read, and general life that needed to be organized, I thought about what I would be doing if I didn’t have by laptop, my blackberry, and my ipod (for listening to lectures, of course!).  Even as I’m writing this, I am on my laptop at a coffee shop, sending out an email and making sure I have all my class notes in order to study for my final.  It got me thinking that even though these pieces of technology play such a huge role in our lives, there are still places where we could integrate their use to streamline the way we learn, and the way we care for our patients.

So I searched “nursing” on iTunes, just out of curiosity, and aside from the super awesome things I knew about (TheNursingShow podcast) and the iPod apps that made me want to get a new phone, I came across something WAY COOL.  An iPod app created by a nursing school, for nursing school. From what I gathered – or the way I see this all working out – is that each student is given a smart phone (in this case an iPhone/iTouch – ok, maybe they aren’t given it, but each student has one), and it’s loaded with apps and programs that are to be utilized throughout the nursing school experience. WHAT?! That’s so awesome! The one app in particular that I was looking at was like a “clinical companion” for the student. All HIPPA safe, the student can input data about the patient  (patient prep info!) and then throughout the day, the student checks off assessment findings associated with the diagnosis, meds given, and nursing activities completed. It’s an electronic way of keeping track of what’s been done, and what was found. At the end of the day, the students can sync their phones/devices into the main system, and the instructor can see what was completed, found, etc.

BRILLIANT! I’m sold! I asked one of my tech savvy instructors if she had heard of this, and she said some schools are using PDAs as a mandatory part of their program. It’s not something that my school will be considering in the next 9 months so that I can see it, but it’s definitely an option for the future of nursing schools. With everything that is becoming available, apps, books (even textbooks are going digital) why not uniformly utilize technology for the benefit of our education, and our learning experiences? I vote YES for PDA supplemented nursing programs in our future – what do you think?

Nourish Interactive “teaches children about healthy choices, being active and the fun of healthy eating through interactive web-based games and tools,” LaBarbera says. The content-heavy site includes dozens of games, lesson plans and tips for parents. There’s also a huge section just for kids.

Four of Nourish Interactive’s games were recently named finalists in the “Apps for Healthy Kids” contest, which is part of First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move campaign. “Chef Solus’ Food Pyramid Adventure,” “Kevin’s Build a Meal,” “Ride the Food Label,” and “Healthy Harvest Maze” were recognized as fun, interactive games that help children learn about nutrition. Winners of the contest will be announced in September. Nourish Interactive was also recently added to the Association for Library Services to Children’s list of Great Web Sites for Kids.

“My job isn’t your typical nursing job, but I want to let nurses know that there are so many creative ways they can take their nursing experience and use it in another venue to promote health,” LaBarbera says. “I love what I do and am passionate about being part of the solution to fight childhood obesity.”

Sources:

www.nourishinteractive.com

www.appsforhealthykids.com

While the Facebook page has since been deleted, Natives Against Racism preserved screenshots of the original page and posted them online. One section features a full-face photo for Mr. Cornstalk wearing a Santa-style hat. A comment reads, “can you hear him??…or should I say SMELL him!!”

Mr. Cornstalk’s family and activist groups have filed complaints with the mayor’s office, the Chicago Media Department and the Internal Affairs Division. A Chicago Internal Affairs Investigation is still in process. A new Facebook group, Justice and Dignity for Christopher Cornstalk, is drawing attention to his plight.

Do you think nurses and other healthcare providers should receive specific training in social media privacy? What sanctions, if any, should be imposed on nurses who post patient information online?

Image: pzAxe | Veer

What if your employer insisted on radio frequency identification tags (RFID tags) for all nurses? Would you object to wearing the location-tracking technology?

RFID is an up-and-coming technology in healthcare. So far, healthcare organizations have had the most luck using it to track equipment. RFID-tagged IV pumps, for instance, are essentially self-tracking. Because the technology allows authorized users to track the pumps’ whereabouts at any point in time, nurses who need an IV pump no longer have to spend time searching from room to room or floor to floor for an available pump. RFID technology has also been used to fulfill some more mundane responsibilities, such as tracking the temperature in medication refrigerators.  Before, nurses used to waste precious minutes every day observing and recording the temps; an RFID tag can do it automatically.

RFID technology is also being used to enhance patient safety. RFID-based medication administration systems are easier to use than older, barc0de-based systems. And RFID tags can help staff keep track of patients prone to wandering.

But when it comes to using RFID technology to track an organization’s most valuable asset — its employees — the reaction is mixed. In a recent editorial, Frank Pasquale, JD, a Schering-Plough professor of healthcare regulation and enforcement at Seton Hall University, wrote that many nurses find the idea of such constant tracking oppressive.  “Inserting a watchful electronic eye to monitor what is already an extremely stressful job may create many unintended consequences, or deter people from going into nursing all together,” said Pasquale. On the other hand, he says, “the nurse-cam may be seen as a way to protect vulnerable patients (and perhaps increase the accuracy of evidence of malpractice cases).”

Some nurses seem to welcome the idea of RFID-tracking, in hopes that the data will provide administrators with concrete data regarding nurses’ work days. Others shirk from Big Brother-style surveillance. What do you think? Is RFID tracking of nurses a good idea or a bad one? Why?

Source:

http://www.concurringopinions.com/archives/2010/06/rfid-tags-for-nurses-then-everybody.html

Image: Photodisc | Thinkstock

Nurses are busy enough taking care of patients, calming families, and keeping doctors updated on cases. Don’t let a silly email mistake ruin your shift! In this age of BlackBerry-toting professionals connected by email around globe, it’s crucial to abide by the written (and unwritten) rules of email communication. You don’t want to embarrass yourself, do you?

Don’t send another message without this checklist in mind:

Fit for Email or Text?

Email’s speed and effectiveness is perfect for sending important message about a new swine flu outbreak or some other hospital emergency. But is it the best way to deliver every message? Are you sending an email about your vacation plans? Or are you responding to a message riddled with patient questions and clarification requests? Picking up the phone or chatting face-to-face with fellow nurses could cut down on time-wasting (and highly unproductive) back-and-forth prattle, which saves everyone time and energy. Remember, one size doesn’t fit all, so make sure an email is the correct mode of communication.

Who’s your target audience? –>

Image: Jupiterimages | Getty Images + Scrubs Mag

Five California nurses were recently fired after allegedly discussing patients on Facebook.

The nurses, who worked at Tri-City Medical Center in Oceanside, lost their jobs after an internal investigation and three weeks of administrative leave. While no details of the incident have been revealed, Larry Anderson, CEO of Tri-City Medical Center, has said that no patient names, photos or identifying information were included in the posts.

This isn’t the first time nurses have gotten into trouble for Facebook postings. In 2008, a photo of a topless British nurse — with patients in the background — appeared online, causing the hospital, Northampton General Hospital, to block acess to all social networking sites from work computers. In 2009, Wisconsin nurses were fired after two nurses took photos of a patient’s X-ray and allegedly posted it to Facebook. While the Facebook page was quickly removed, one of the nurses in question admitted to discussing the incident on her Facebook page. Photos of nurses having a food fight at Stafford Hospital in the UK also surfaced in 2009, quickly creating an uproar because the incident took place after a heavily publicized report that linked patient deaths to staff shortages and poor nursing care.

While a number of hospitals have social media policies in place — and HIPAA strictly enforces patient privacy and confidentiality — incidents continue to occur. How do you think hospitals should handle questionable social media postings? Is it ever appropriate to upload work pictures or to discuss work online?

The Vocera wireless communications system was released in 2004 but has been gaining momentum. The device, which can be worn around the neck or pinned to a uniform, sounds like something straight out of Star Trek: Nurses simply press a button on the badge to communicate instantly. The device allows users to send and receive phone calls (both in and out of the institution) without ever having to dial a number. Vocera is text-capable as well, and messages can be sent out en masse, if necessary. It can also be programmed to forward nurse call lights and alarms directly to the responsible nurse.

Vocera has also released a free iPhone app, effectively extending its technology to the smartphone that may already be in your pocket.

Have you used Vocera or a similar technology? What did you think?

Resources:

http://www.vocera.com

So what’s so neat about her class? Well, this is the first time that we’ve really had an instructor utilize the internet as a resource for more than looking up scholarly journal articles. She uses sites like YouTube and refers us to websites to help promote not only our patients’ health, but our own health. She recognizes the incredible resource we all carry in our backpacks everyday, and embraces the thought of utilizing it to promote public health.  We’re using video blogs (vlogs?) by people with chronic illnesses to study illness trajectory, and our major project is to create a health promotion blog for the public. It’s really refreshing to see a teacher so willing to embrace the tools that we have at our fingertips to expand our profession.

Considering such a large part of our country is lacking in health care resources, it only seems natural to try and reach out to the community through virtual technology. Granted, there are sites out there like WEB-MD and others that provide a plethora of medical info to the public, but I think that if we as nurses can extend our care out via web, we would be able to reach so many more clients, and we’d be able to help them through the process of whatever illness or ailment they’re dealing with, or even provide health promotion advice to everyone.  Coping strategies, support from health care providers , and patient education are such vital components to our nursing practice, and we can provide these services virtually anywhere by using this ‘new’ interface of nursing.

Maybe I’m just excited by this health promotion blog project, but I really think it’s a key part of our role as nurses to provide information to the public, and why not reach out through the internet? Are any of you familiar with sites where nurses are reaching out to the public? Nursing students, have any of your instructors created assignments to reach out to the public in this way?

Image: David Leahy | Cultura | Getty Images

A recent article in the Orlando Sentinel has re-focused attention on a 2002 ad campaign designed to break down gender stereotypes in nursing.  The “Are You Man Enough to Be  Nurse?” campaign was the brainchild of the Oregon Center for Nursing; its focal point was a black and white print ad featuring a line up of manly men who just happened to be nurses.

At the time, the campaign took some heat from nurses who deemed the ad “too macho.”  A small number of nurses believed the ad played up the nurses’ masculinity while ignoring their caregiving capacities.  Couldn’t the guys have at least smiled, they wondered?

But research from the American Assembly for Men in Nursing suggests the ad was right on target.  A 2005 AAMN survey found that men believe that images and ad campaigns depicting action, diversity, teamwork, technology and nurses as heroes may attract men to nursing, while men are turned off by ads that depict nurses as handmaidens or subservient to physicians.  Males also reject ads that reinforce stereotypes, including the nurse-in-white-uniform stereotype.

Considering the controversy over recent portrayals of nurses in the media, maybe all future ad campaigns should portray nurses as heroic, diverse healthcare providers?

The patient’s heart rate gradually declined, then stopped, over a 20-minute period, but none of the 10 nurses on duty that morning recalled hearing the alarms or seeing the scrolling alarm messages on three hallway signs.  While alarms are designed to draw attention to patient problems, they go off so frequently that healthcare staff tend to tune them out after awhile.  Call it “the boy who cried wolf” syndrome.

The ECRI institute, a research institute based in Pennsylvania that specializes in medical devices, listed alarms on patient monitoring devices as the number two hazard on its top 10 list of health technology hazards.

Nurses at Johns Hopkins Hospital recently conducted a quality improvement initiative to decrease alarm fatigue and improve patient care.  A key component of the initiative was tailoring alarm parameters to individual patients — an intervention that eventually led to a 40% reduction in critical care alarms.

Are alarms a problem in your hospital?