Nursing is a demanding profession that requires the right tools and resources to deliver high-quality care while managing complex patient needs. Whether you’re a seasoned nurse or an advanced practice provider, having access to the right nursing tools and technology can make all the difference in your workflow and patient outcomes. This guide will explore seven invaluable resources that every nurse and healthcare provider should consider incorporating into their daily practice, including Hercules, ASCOM, Hill-Rom, and Alaris smart pumps. These tools and tips help streamline tasks, improve patient safety, and optimize overall care.
Hercules Sheets
I absolutely LOVE the Hercules sheets. The company offers different options, but I worked with the drive unit boost sheet. Essentially, it works by having a sheet hooked up to a motor unit at the top of the bed, which helps you lift your patient higher in bed. Saving your back all the hard work of having to try to pull your patient up in bed, just for them to slide or shimmy their way back down as soon as you walk out the door. The other nice thing about the Hercules sheets, as long as they’re the washable type, is that if they get blood or other colorful staining fluids, they clean up pretty nicely with bleach wipes, unlike standard sheets. On the contrary, the disposable Hercules sheets, although they do the same job, tear very easily and usually don’t fit the bed as nicely unless it’s a bariatric bed.
E-ICU Cameras and Remote Documentation
My current hospital, where I am, has cameras in all the rooms with E-ICU nurses, whom we can use as resources at any time of day if needed. They can do all sorts of things for us. They will document our codes and intubations. They can be a second set of eyes for us to check on a patient if something doesn’t look right. In any emergency, we can have them in the background and place orders that providers call out or enter for medications they are administering in real-time, so we don’t have to go back and chart things later. Just last week, we had a rapid response that came in hot. When the team arrived, the patient needed emergent intubation, and E-ICU documented everything for me in real-time. Once everything was settled, I only had to chart my initial assessment of the patient and my standard documentation. Everything else regarding the rapid and the intubation was taken care of. LIFE/HEADACHE SAVER!
Camera Monitor Systems in Rooms
I love being able to sit outside one of my patients’ rooms while still keeping a physical eye on both of my patients simultaneously. I also find it great because half the time, I don’t trust other people when I ask them to watch my patients while I go on my lunch break or have to step off the unit. But this is an easy way for them to pull up the camera view of my patient and have no excuse for them not being able to easily keep a physical eye on them while I’m off the unit for a little while, to ensure they are safe and there are no issues.
ASCOM Alerts with Hill-Rom Integration
At one of the hospitals where I worked, we got alerts on our ASCOMs for everything. Whenever your monitor alerted you about your vitals, you also got an alert on your ASCOM. Which was convenient because then you were running to your room, wondering if the alarm you heard was yours or just ignoring it due to alarm fatigue, and it turned out to be yours. If you were off the floor, you knew when your patient’s blood pressure was out of parameters, and you could call whoever was watching your patient and ask them to medicate your patient accordingly. It was invaluable. In addition to getting alerts for our vitals, it was connected to our Hill-Rom system. On the pads in the patient’s room, you could send group alerts from the patient’s room asking for a “Turn Assist” or “Sign Off” and it would sent it to everyone’s ASCOM on the floor to alert them that you needed assistance with something and in what room it came from. You would also receive notifications on your ASCOM when your call light was on in that room, and whenever there were any mass notifications for specific codes being called.
Alaris Pumps Synced to Epic Charting System
When providers need accurate I/O, Alaris pumps synced with Epic are crucial. It’s much easier than remembering to go into your patient’s room, look at the pump, take a picture, and recall the input to clear the pump. Every time you pause the pump for any reason or make a rate change, it appears under ‘Infusion Verify’. You can then click on the changes made to your medication that need to be added to your Medication Administration Record (MAR). When things get crazy, you don’t have to try to remember when you stopped the Levo or when you titrated down the Neo.
Advanced Practice Providers on the Unit
Nothing is more annoying than having to page the provider for something as minor as Tylenol for a headache in the middle of the night. I love having an advanced practice provider to walk up to and ask to enter a particular order without feeling like I’m waking up the on-call provider for minor requests. Or even to ask them to come to the bedside because something doesn’t look or feel right about the patient. I want a second opinion and want them to see the patient. I hate not having a provider nearby in case things go south with my patients.
Late Night Food Availability
Working night shift is hard enough, but for some hospitals to not have any food option aside from vending machines after 6 pm sucks. For places that offer food options for night shift workers, we greatly appreciate it. Even if it’s just a fried food. One of my favorite parts is just getting a fountain drink.
Every hospital has strengths and weaknesses, but you notice their absence when you’ve experienced great tools and systems. These resources don’t just make our jobs easier — they help us provide safer, more efficient care.
Tell me in the comments some tools and resources that you love that you have at your hospital!