Time is everything. If anyone who knows this more than anyone, that’s the heroes who are working in the health industry. Aside from doing the perfect job of attentively caring for the patients, nurses have endless responsibilities in their everyday work.  

While nurses value efficiency and productivity in the work, they need the right tools to organize, save time for the important tasks and hone their skills the right way.

From using a simple notepad to applications like Evernote, there are tons of tools available to help them run their day smoothly.

Let’s count down our top 10 picks to help the nurses make the most out of their valuable time

1. Digital Thermometers

Non-contact temperature assessment devices are on the rise during the pandemic as the Government is using all the precautionary measures to reduce the spread of COVID-19 to health workers and patients.

Compared to the traditional thermometers, these devices can quickly track the temperature with minimum cleaning or sanitizing between the uses. With digital thermometers, nurses are saving more time in the process with quick digital data on the go.

2. Scrubs with Pockets

Scrubs are a must-have clothing accessory for nurses. Most of the hospitals/ nursing schools have strict restrictions on the type of scrubs you could wear. First, you’ll have to find out the restrictions on brand, types of scrubs and colours before you buy a new scrub. But if there is no restriction, you’ll definitely need to consider scrubs with pockets!

Nurses have a lot of things to carry and scrubs with a lot of pockets are an excellent solution.  Scrubs with a good pocket can be used to keep scissors, pads, small guide books and other handy items.

3. Comfortable Shoes

Many nurses work longer shifts and most of their time is spent on foot. Since the shifts may sometimes last from 10-12 hours, comfortable shoes are a must-have thing for nurses to go through their everyday tasks easily.  Having comfortable shoes helps in saving time for most of the nurses who take frequent breaks due to foot and back pain by using uncomfortable shoes.

While choosing your shoes, make sure that they are lightweight and breathable. This small

4. A watch with second hand

The timing and accuracy of delivering the right medicines on time are important for nurses. There are medicines that need to be provided at an interval of 30 seconds or 2 minutes to get the best out of the medication and even for monitoring the vitals. Having a watch with second-hand makes the timing possible with utmost accuracy.

5. CheatSheet

For the new grads, it might be difficult to remember all the essential minute information. This is where a pocket cheat sheet comes in handy. Having a cheat sheet will help the nurses understand and learn the core concepts in a smarter way and will not have to run around the room for references.

Make sure that the information provided in the cheat sheet is right before you start using them. Ideally, go for a cheat sheet that provides vital information like:

• Heart rhythms
• Anatomy
• Lab Values
• Vital Signals
• Respiratory & Pharmacy codes

6. Nursing Clipboard

From organizing a patient’s files to taking notes and tracking the vitals, nurses do a lot of administration work every day. Though most of the hospital provides a basic clipboard for nurses, a good clipboard is a must-have tool to help the nurses get more organized and save their valuable time.

You can choose the clipboard based on your requirements. A good clipboard will be something will a few or all of the below features:

• A vertical and foldable design that can fit in the scrub
• Light-weight clipboard
• Durable design for heavy use
• Small pockets
• Calculator
• Assessment charts
• clock/timer

7. Hemostat

Hemostats are unarguably one of the most used tools in a nurse’s inventory. This clamp-like instrument is used by nurses use it multiple times a day –

• To get fentanyl bags off from their spikes
• To clamp foleys to collect urine samples
• To get the metal caps off the bottles
• To crush pills in packages

And the list goes on!

8. Alcohol wipes

Even before all the COVID-19 hygiene practices, Alcohol wipes were a must-have tool for nurses to disinfect everything from scissors, to cleaning the hemostat and even their phones. With COVID-19, the use of alcohol wipes, facemask and hand sanitizers are more important than ever disinfecting and ensure their safety as well along with those of patients.

Always make sure to keep a small bottle of hand sanitizer in the pockets to save time after visiting each patient.

9. Digital Sphygmomanometer

Digital saves time and this is another neat example of how nurses can save their valuable time while checking the blood pressure of patients.

Digital blood pressure monitoring systems provide a better mode of convenience and more accurate data for nurses. This helps them to give a complete picture of the patient’s time to detect any cardiovascular risk or to diagnose and monitor hypertension.

10. Mobile Applications

A notebook always comes in handy for nurses, but with technology advancements, there are a number of mobile applications that are handy and solve most of the problems with few clicks. Here are a few applications you might need to checkout!

• · NurseGrid

Nurse shift is a great application for communication, scheduling and managing your shifts. The app lets you connect with other nurses, schedule your shifts on the calendar, view who you are going to work with during the shift and much more!

• · Medscape

The app offers clinical references, medical directories and continues articles on the latest news in the medical industry to keep you updated.

• · Evernote

Evernote needs no introduction. The application lets you make all the notes on the smartphone. Consolidate based on the requirement and you can even highlight the important parts using the application.

• · Google Translate

Though nurses are highly unlikely to use this application, the application may come in handy when nurses are dealing with the patients of foreign nations and they can’t understand the language they are speaking.

Summing Up

Getting equipped with all the right skills and tools can ease the work for all the health heroes.  Institutions like Labouré College, will help you get equipped with the right skills and industry-standard training to build your nursing career.