Nurses solve problems. Nurses and nurse educators are innovators and inventors. In their roles of patient care advocates, they often come up with new and innovative ideas to improve nursing education and patient care.
RealLifeSim
For example, Liz Benson and Linda C. Goodman invented RealLifeSim, a product line of wearable clinical simulation device kits that can provide simulated feedback to students for performing certain clinical procedures. Benson is an adjunct professor of biology and nutrition at the College of Southern Maryland (CSM); Goodman is a nursing professor and coordinator of the simulation labs at CSM. Together, they have formed B & G Educational Innovations, and recently were awarded $120,000 in Microsoft® support and services for their prototype.
The RealLifeSim line of products will help improve educational simulation by providing very quick feedback on assessing, identifying, and treating a number of conditions, such as deep vein thrombosis and gangrene in a foot wound.
SimAccessories™
Another nurse educator, Karen Kennedy, BScN, MEd, of Eriter Creations, Inc., was her own first customer. When she wanted a wearable product to illustrate pitting edema for her students, she turned to her friend Colleen Ward, who was a home economics instructor. Together, they created SimLeggings™ and SimObesity™ simulation solutions for edema and bariatric simulation, respectively. These simulation accessory product solutions present the unique physical complexities of caring for patients in nursing, EMS, and physical and occupational therapy education. (Pocket Nurse® recently acquired ECI; learn more here.)
NoNo Sleeve
Occasionally, nurses see a need because of a family member’s illness. One of the makers of the NoNo Sleeve was inspired because of a health crisis suffered by her father-in-law. Jill Drew, RN, and Kelly Reif, RN, took their passion for patient advocacy into entrepreneurship by launching NoNo Sleeve, LLC, in 2013, and they continue to market their solution. The NoNo Sleeve, according to Drew, does the talking for patients when they can’t or when communications breakdown between healthcare providers.
Designed by nurses for patient advocacy.
The NoNo Sleeve is available for nurse educators through Pocket Nurse for educational purposes.
And of course our own Anthony Battaglia, MS, BSN, RN, owner of Pocket Nurse®, who not only created the original Pocket Nurse product, but went on to found an entire company devoted to helping nurse educators teach students. Along with tirelessly sourcing solutions such as SimLeggings and the NoNo Sleeve for nursing education, he has developed many proprietary solutions for Pocket Nurse, such as Demo Dose® simulated medications, student health totes, and several diagnostic and patient care kits.
