Nurses in one unit of St. Anne’s Hospital in Fall River, MA are making use of new technology to spend more time at patients’ bedside. The Massachusetts hospital was picked along with 67 other hospitals to be in a national research project — Transforming Care at the Bedside — the study’s goal is to improve the quality and safety of patient care on medical and surgical units.
The nurses in St. Anne’s North One, a post-surgical unit, are wearing PDA devices that help them track where they’re spending their time during their shift, whether it’s with a patient, filling out paperwork, talking to doctors, answering calls or distributing medication.
“All of us went to school to be a bedside nurse,” said Kiley Medeiros, clinical leader on North One. “We’re trying to find little ways to actually do that.”
Doreen Williams, patient care director on North One, said the nurses take turns carrying the PDA device, which looks like a palm pilot. The device will beep periodically - prompting the nurse to make one of several choices on the screen to identify what he or she is doing at the time of the beep. The information will continue to be gathered and then shared with all hospitals participating in the research project. The project is sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement.
Improvements include the use of cell phone/ walkie talkies for the nurses so they can communicate with one another without having to drop what they’re doing and go to the desk for the phone. Williams said this also cuts down on noise in the unit because it eliminates the need to page over the loud speaker.
Other timesavers have included organizing the medicine supply closet so nurses don’t have to waste time searching for what they need. They’ve also started using red magnets on the staff board to show when a nurse is becoming overwhelmed and needs help and asking patients what they want out of their day.
The unit’s family waiting room has been redecorated so families can watch television, surf the Internet, read magazines and relax while their loved one is brought into the unit or while testing is done.
They’re also assembling an entertainment cart for patients so they can listen to music, play board games and watch movies to make their stay more enjoyable.
Source-Fall River Herald News, MA - USA