Is there an app for this?

Technology – It looks as if a number of people either find it irresistible or hate it. I need to admit that I’m one in all the previous. It amazes me that my children won’t ever have to jot down a paper using only textbooks or encyclopedias, or dare I say it, using a typewriter!

In the intensive care unit where I worked, we frequently tested latest intravenous pumps, thermometers, telemetry monitors, pulse oximeters, and the like. I didn’t mind the services required – I could not wait to study latest machines that might help us provide higher care.

Nowadays, technology goes beyond exciting (!) tympanic thermometers. Nurses now carry any number of private digital assistants, or PDAs, with them, putting information literally at their fingertips. Incredible! Getting drug information right on the bedside? Bright. Lab results delivered via text message? Why not?

On our Facebook AND Twitter pages, we recently posted QTc calculations “just for fun” and the dearth of response really surprised me. Was it too difficult? Did our fans and followers just not prefer it? Or perhaps nurses now not should calculate QTc since it’s done for them – right on the telemetry monitor or 12-lead EKG machine, or the QT and RR interval can simply be plugged into their (insert device of alternative here) and – QTc appears .

All this talk of technology, nonetheless, jogs my memory of a really useful tip – I admit that I felt guilty for running into the room, considering the patient was affected by ventricular tachycardia, after which finding him brushing his teeth. How about you?

I’m also curious, when was the last time you calculated QTc?

Author: Lisa Bonsall, MSN, RN, CRNP