Do Not Disturb.
Saturday, August 25, 2012
My hospital has recently started trialing some vests which we are to use when giving out medications. The concept is that with less interruptions will come less mistakes. I am happy to give it a go. At first the new vests drew titters of giggles from passing people, mostly asking if they can borrow one to wear at home to stop their kids bugging them. I'd be very interested in hearing from any of you who may work in a hospital environment, either here in Australia or abroad. Do you use anything similar? And if so has it worked? Time will tell if these vests become a part of our regular drug rounds. If they don't I think I may very well be bringing mine home to modify and wear as I prepare dinner or catch up on reading my favourite blogs!
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I feel badly when the stories are publicized where a nurse or doctor has made a harmful mistake in administering the wrong medication or amount of medication...I'm sure there are many distractions in the hospital.
Of course I feel badly for the patient too. It will be great if it does make a difference and makes your job a little easier and the patients (and ultimately you) safer...the patient for his health and doctors and nurses from lawsuits.
My mom used to be a nurse and gave it up many years before she retired. You all have a lot of responsibility. I admire anyone who has a calling to take care of patients.
While I don't live in Australia and I don't work as a nurse, I have been volunteering at a nursing home in my hometown for seven years and was given a job there after my recent graduation from college.
I think those vests would be very helpful- I'm not sure about the mistakes our nurses make, if any, but I know they'd be helpful in other ways. For example, I know for me it's really hard to tell when a nurse is in the middle of a med pass so I probably sometimes interrupt them by letting them know a resident needs to go to the bathroom or asking for a band-aid (for myself, not a resident) or whatever. It would be helpful to know when a med pass was occurring so I didn't unintentionally interrupt anyone and possibly be the cause of a mistake.