Happy Nurses. Happy Patients. Happy Nurses Week

Nursing is one of the Fine Arts: I had almost said the finest of Fine Arts. – Florence Nightingale

Anyone who’s had a significant overnight hospital “event” will affirm in no uncertain terms what made or broke the stay.

Sure, competent physicians and techs are key, but that has more to do with a quick discharge and a good result than the stay itself.

While you’re there, tied to a bed spawned from the “Transformers” franchise, linked to monitors by coils of snaking cables, wondering how to get to the bathroom without inflicting further injury, simultaneously pondering the implications of getting the leads wet, it’s the nursing staff that makes it all bearable.

May 6 through 12 is National Nurses Week when, according the American Nursing Association, we “celebrate and elevate” the vast contributions and positive impacts of some 4 million American nurses.

It’s fitting that the celebration ends on Florence Nightingale’s birthday.

It’s also fitting that Sonicu, with a primary mission of making life easier, more efficient and safer with wireless monitoring, salutes these dedicated souls.

So, who are they – these people that make invasive procedures more bearable than they have a right to be?

History traces them to the Roman Empire, circa 300 A.D. But “modern” nursing came to the fore during the Crimean War of the middle 19^th Century when the Russian Empire squared off against that of the Ottomans, the French, British and the island of Sardinia in one of the first “modern wars,” with the requisite modern casualties caused by evolving modern battle technologies foretelling the devastation of The Great War.

Some facts:

• The average age of the American nurse is 46.
• Because of that, experts say there will be national nursing shortfall of some 1.2 million by 2020.
• There are 3.9 million nurses in America, with California, New York and Florida leading the way.
• Of that number, 9 percent or about 330,000 are male.
• According to Dailynurse.com, there are more than 200 nursing specialties.

And now some bad news.

• 49 percent of nurses under age 30 and 40 percent over age 30 experience nurse burnout.
• 98 percent of hospital nurses indicate their work is physically and mentally demanding.
• 63 percent of hospital nurses reported being burnt out.
• 44 percent of them are concerned their work will suffer due to fatigue.
• 41 percent have considered changing hospitals due to burnout.

Those who make our lives pleasant as possible during hospital stays are struggling, and the profession worries inadequate patient care, poor patient experience and a stressed-out workforce are the results.

Among healthcare’s mitigating measures against nurse burnout is a turn to technology.

Sonicu has the technology.

Wireless, automated monitoring for room conditions such as temperature, humidity and air pressure differential eliminate tedious and time-consuming monitoring, logging and reporting, freeing and releasing staffs to more important matters – such as patient care.

Hospital noise reduction and sound management make patients happy and help administrators develop more effective rounding, treatment and noise elimination strategies.

In short, automated monitoring, alarming and compliance reporting help staffs become more efficient with less effort. Technology takes the load.

We’re glad you’re there. We celebrate what you do. We’d like to hear how we can help.

#NursesWeek