Fun and Useful Tech Gadgets Every Nurse Needs

In recognition of the frontline staff battling COVID19, if you are a nurse, or know someone who is, here are some useful gift ideas that’ll make life easier!

Nurses work long hours and because of this, they need all the help they can get. Simple things like taking notes or opening an ampule can become impossible when you have been working for 8 or 12 continuous hours. Luckily, there are some gadgets nurses can use to make their lives and work much easier and a lot less stressful. 

Vein Finder

One of the biggest challenges for nurses is finding veins in certain patients. For this, nurses can turn to a vein finder. There are lots of different models of this device with some working better than others. That said, they all work relatively similarly:

• They use a light to help locate a vein. Most of them use LED lights but some of them also use a transilluminator to help find the vein
• They then hold the vein in place to prevent rolling
• Next, they stretch the skin and act as a tourniquet.

These vein finders are excellent gadgets for nurses who deal with children and older patients who do not appreciate being prodded and poked multiple times as a nurse tries to find a vein.

Buzzy

Buzzy is a trademarked device that uses vibration and cold to control pain. Nurses love it, especially when they use it on kids who do not love the pain of needles. Because it is very distracting, it is perfect for toddlers and preschool patients.

This gadget is:

• Non-invasive
• clinically proven to reduce pain during procedures and
• a great distraction for patients who are afraid of needles

The best thing about this device is that it eliminates the need for the use of numbing medicines at injection sites.

Livescribe Echo Smartpen

It is tedious, time-consuming and annoying for nurses to copy all their notes to a computer or other device after they are done taking notes. The Livescribe Echo Smartpen eliminates this because:

• It saves everything you write to a computer or other device
• It helps nurses to listen to specific parts of their notes if they tap in them

This pen is an awesome organization tool for any nurse.

Mug Warmer

Nurses need to study a lot when in school and even after they graduate. Coffee comes in handy during those late nights as they study or when they get assigned a late-night shift. A mug warmer ensures your coffee is always warm. It is especially handy for nurses who work in fast-paced hospitals, as they may not have time to stop and warm a cup of coffee.

With this mug warmer, all they need to do is:

• Place their mug of coffee on the warmer and
• Turn it on

The mug will keep your coffee warm for whenever you need to consume it.

Phonesoap

Although this gadget will not necessarily make you a better nurse, it will help keep those around you safe. We all know that phones can harbor germs that nurses can transmit to their patients or take home. The Phonesoap helps kill 99.99% of the germs on your smartphone.

It kills germs on the phone’s surface as well as within its crevices, which cannot be reached easily. It uses a powerful UV light that does not damage the electronics inside the phone. This gadget is helpful in that while it cleans your phone, it also charges it.

Eko CORE Attachment

A stethoscope is perhaps one of the most important tools nurses use. Stethoscopes are used to listen to the heart and other internal organs, but it is quite primitive by itself. The Eko CORE attachment improves stethoscopes by adding:

• Active noise canceling
• Sound amplification
• Wireless functionality

This attachment can share its data via a smartphone app so that nurses and doctors can visualize, share, and record heartbeat and other sounds. It also supports streaming to telemedicine applications and, best of all, it is HIPAA compliant.

 

Voice Recorder

Nurses take a lot of notes and have to remember a lot of information. They can forget some of this information if they work with a lot of patients and this is where the voice recorder comes in. There are many different models but ideally, you need one that:

• Has enough space to hold all the data
• Has a long battery life to last through your shift and
• A USB connection so you can transfer your recordings to another device.

Ampule Opener or Cracker

Opening an ampule the wrong way can lead to cuts, the medicine spilling out, or glass shards falling into the ampule making it unusable. To eliminate all this, nurses should use an ampule opener.

The ampule opener:

• makes it safer to open ampules
• has a disposable plastic fracture and safety collar

All these make it easier to open pre-scored ampules.

Waterproof Kindle

After a long day at work, you might need to de-stress with a book. For nurses, a waterproof kindle can do much more than that. It can help them keep learning while they work if they are attending neonatal nurse practitioner schools at Baylor University.

A waterproof Kindle is handy because:

• It is light enough to carry around
• It will withstand water and other liquids being spilled on it
• It opens up whole libraries for you.

Wake-Up Light Alarm Clock

Nurses work long hours and because of this, they need adequate rest. The Wake-up light has a dimming feature that mimics a sunset and sounds that will help you fall asleep faster and, therefore, get as many hours of sleep as possible.

It also has a sunrise simulation alarm that:

• gets gradually brighter to mimic a sunrise
• helps you wake up gradually, so you are not stunned by a loud alarm in the morning.

Posture Sensor

Nurses recommend proper posture to their patients but due to their hectic schedules, they can forget to keep proper posture themselves. A posture sensor can help with this, as it vibrates when you are in a bad posture so you can sit or stand up straight.

Nurses do a lot of good work but staying organized, well-rested and sharp can be challenging. Luckily, tech gadgets can help make their lives a little bit easier.