Tackle The Challenge Of Integrating New Equipment
Adding a new piece of equipment into the daily routines of NICU baby care is challenging for many reasons; most prominently is a lack of familiarity with the product.
When introducing a product similar to one already in use, staff adjust more quickly. However, when a product is unfamiliar, the transition takes more time. Helping the team become familiar with the new product is vital.
Pictorial Guides
There are many ways to accomplish this goal, but each takes time. For starters, place pictorial information about the product in all the common spaces such as the lounge, scrub station, bathrooms, and group charting areas. Using a picture of the device in use is extra helpful, plus a few bullet points explaining its purpose, population, and process. DandleLION has created a QR code linking the nurse or therapist to the website’s positioning products.
DandleLION offers various pictorial guides and in-service videos for our products on the website to expedite this step in the change process.
Hands-On Interaction & Feedback
Have a product open house! If available, place several product sizes in the staff lounge with general guidelines for use. Allow staff to interact with the products on a doll of different sizes, and allow for open discussion where team members can relay positive and negative attributes. This implementation gives staff hands-on familiarity and increases buy-in when asking to hear staff opinions.
Mini Bedside Education
Offer mini bedside education sessions 5 minutes maximum length. In this “5 minutes to know,” introduce why the product is necessary, how to use it and what benefits its use will yield. Offering a token reward for completion, a sticker for their badge, some candy, or a pen, improves motivation and provides peer pressure to others who see the token and want one too. DandleLION has created a badge card with a picture of each positioner and a QR code linking to the website. The badge card is a great reward and a ready reminder.
Finally, create easy access to the product. Give the product a little front-shelf time, if possible. Make signs guiding staff to the product, and shelve it with other like or same process items such as midline head supports near the admission items. These simple steps can improve the ease of transition and the likelihood of use.
by Elizabeth Jeanson, PT, DPT, CNT, NTMTC, DCS
Elizabeth is a Clinical Consultant for Dandle•LION Medical and the Developmental Specialist and Neonatal Therapist in Neonatal Intensive Care at Sanford Children’s Hospital/USD Medical Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Read more about Elizabeth in her Dandy Clinician Spotlight.
