10 Ways a Smartwatch Can Make a Nurse’s Life Easier at Work

A nurse’s job is demanding and full of everyday challenges. A typical workday could start when it’s still dark outside only to go home after it’s dark again. Making life-and-death decisions for multiple patients happen regularly, so it is imperative for nurses to have a sharp memory and a strong physique to keep doing what is expected of them.

Since we live in an era where technology keeps advancing at a breakneck speed, it is no longer a wonder that the smartwatch was invented. A smartwatch is the smartest replacement for the regular watch and has now become an essential part of a nurse’s uniform. It is now a part of the fundamental nursing uniform along with scrubs, shoes, compression socks, and the stethoscope.

Some hospitals have the “bare below the elbows” rule that prohibits medical staff from wearing watches.

However, the benefits of using a smartwatch outweigh any perceived risks of spreading infection. A stethoscope can be as dirty, if not more, than a wristwatch, and some smartwatches are anti-microbial, and some are water resistant. With all the good things that a smartwatch can do, more nurses are getting into the technology.

A nurse’s job is composed of a thousand and one tasks that having a smartwatch can immensely help them be continually on their toes. Here are ten ways that a smartwatch can make their lives easier at work:

1. The smartwatch can be used as a great notification system for nurses and all the medical staff as well.

By using a smartwatch, they can instantly be alerted and respond accordingly to alerts and patient calls faster. A smartwatch can be a great improvement in the communication system of the whole facility and substantially help the medical staff do a better job and, eventually, improve patient conditions.

Also, a nurse with a smartwatch is always connected and can correspond even while doing other activities. This allows them more quality time with their patients. Nurses spend a huge chunk of their hours trying to find doctors, a time that could have been spent caring for their patients and attending to their needs instead.

2. A smartwatch can provide nurses with real-time vital-sign monitoring, threshold alarms, and to-do reminders.

Some smartwatches can help a nurse take body temperature, pulse rate, respiration rate, and blood pressure among others. Gone are the days that nurses count respiration and pulse rates manually.

A nurse does not always have access to a vitals machine but is still required to take accurate records of heart and respiration rates, doctor assessments, tests, and many others. This is the reason the smartwatch has become popular even among nursing students.

3. Smartwatches can allow nurses and other medical staff access to critical information with just the flick of a wrist.

Nurses will no longer wait for doctors to be pulled away from their patients or wait for them to be finished with their check-ups to respond to pages or messages. Nurses can now receive instant updates about their patients without having to take out their phones from their pockets. This could mean better communication within the hospital and improved bedside experiences for the patients.

4. Time is of the essence in a nurse’s job.

There are a lot of tasks that require a nurse to have quick and easy access to accurate time. Most hospitals have clocks in every room. However, you will not always have a sight line to a clock so having a smartwatch can be very helpful. Some smartwatches have colored quadrants to help in taking vitals manually.

5. A smartwatch can help improve the accuracy of patient records.

Instead of using pagers, communication within the hospital will be redirected from phone calls to messages. This will result in a solid history of the decisions made by doctors and nurses with regards to a patient’s care.

6. Nurses can easily get an overview of their completed and upcoming tasks with the help of a smartwatch.

It can be very helpful in the flow of their work, thus maximizing their time and energy.

7. Nurses can use their smartwatches to remind them of when to check up on a certain patient and who to give medicines to.

Some smartwatches offer the option to use military time that is ideal for charting and documentation. Some studies prove that reminders and alerts can be helpful for nurses in focusing their attention on time-sensitive tasks.

8. A smartwatch can keep track of a nurse’s activities throughout the day.

They can help them manage their workload and always stay organized. Smartwatches can also help nurses with the delegation of tasks efficiently.

9. It is always nice to have notifications show up on your wrist.

Nurses can easily and quickly check if a call or text is something that is urgent and needs to be responded to or if it can be ignored. Also, some smartwatches let you send texts and set alarms for lab redraws, restarting tube feeding, and other tasks with just your voice. Some have voice support that allows you to reply to SMS or receive calls instantly.

10. Smartwatches monitor not only your patients but you as well.

It will monitor your heart rate, the number of steps you have taken, the distance you covered, the time it took you to cover that distance, and many other statistics. Nurses are the caretakers of everyone around them at the expense of their health, so it is a good idea to keep tabs on your vitals as well. Monitoring your health and applying the necessary enrichment can help you lessen stress and boost your confidence.

Conclusion

There are many more uses that a smartwatch has that can help make the nurse’s life easier at work. Encountering challenges is routine in a nurse’s daily work so is not it time to make it more comfortable for them? A smartwatch can truly make a nurse’s job less complicated and less burdensome, giving them more time and energy to care for their patients.