Nurses, We want to Know Your Voice!

Our Know Your Voice contest is being launched to help support each of you, as nurses, you work to provide patients with the best possible care! If you are a nurse, please consider entering this contest. If you know a nurse, please consider telling him or her about this contest. What are we looking for? Well, let me share a few stories with you.

This week, I was speaking with a nurse about Know My PatientTM. We were talking about what life is like as a nurse on the floor. I mentioned how painful it can be to watch nurses struggle to access and use the electronic health record (EHR) while their primary focus is on delivering patient care at the bedside.

 

I shared with her my personal account of when my vital signs were taken on a post it note several weeks ago. This nurse I was speaking with looked at me, and said, ‘I’ve even used my glove. I’ve written vital signs on my glove, to later enter into the [electronic] chart. The problem is when I leave the room, if I forget the vitals are on the glove, and I throw it out, those vitals are gone’. She said, ‘This [Know My Patient TM] would be great to have and really make our days easier’.

 

Another nurse this week shared her account of relying on paper towels to capture vital signs and other data points when there is no available paper in the patient’s room. Other times she has used tape on her pants to capture a patient’s vitals at the bedside.

 

All of these actions are occurring in the presence of electronic health records. Why do nurses use these tools? They are quick, easy, and more importantly, nurses do not currently have a more advanced mobile solution available to them to address their true workflow needs. Up until a few years ago, mobile devices did not exist. We made do with what we had available to us at the time. However, now, with the ability to have electronic tools, we have an opportunity to work to eliminate the need for these temporary tools.

 

We have the opportunity to reduce transcription error (from paper towel to chart), to allow nurses more time to spend with the patient, to decrease the time required to get data into and out of the chart in a meaningful way, to further get to know the patient and establish greater satisfaction from the patient and family, as well as that of the nurse in his/her job. All of these factors also benefit the larger organization.

 

So, I am writing to ask the nurses reading this post to support us in this contest in an effort for us, Nightingale Apps, and myself, to better support each of you in your delivery of safe, quality patient care. After all, you are working to save lives every day.

For more details, you can watch me discuss this contest in the video below. You may also reach us with any questions at contact@nightingaleapps.com . We will be selecting ONE eligible nurse as a winner of a $100 Visa Gift Card and Nightingale Apps branded merchandise.

Here is the link to the contest (https://www.nightingaleapps.com/video-contest) but you may also go to our website: www.nightingaleapps.com and see the alert about the contest on the home page!

 

Thank you!

Tiffany