As a busy baby-boomer with two jobs and an elderly mother, who enjoys time with my husband and adult children, I have purposely avoided getting started watching YouTube, TED Talks, and other social media pursuits because I know that they can become a time drain. The information explosion is addictive! One of the plenary speakers at the 2017 AONE Annual Meeting was Mick Eberling, the founder of Not Impossible Labs. I was reluctant to admit that I had never heard of Mick or his lab, and was astounded to discover that he had become a media award-winner and humanitarian. Through his unorthodox approach to problem solving and the belief that it is absurd to think that any problem can’t be solved, he has helped a paralyzed man to draw and communicate, a young boy without arms to feed himself, and has plans for ways to help many others. In a nutshell, his team discovers an absurd need, commits to figure it out, tackles the impossible, doesn’t worry about permission and creates a solution.
He challenged us to “name something that is possible today that wasn’t impossible first.” That is how I feel about the nurse rounding tools that have been created by the team of talented individuals with whom I work at Nobl Health. When I rolled out hourly rounding and learned about leader rounding 10 years ago, no one even considered the possibility of being able to track the rounding, measure the compliance with the process, fix the issues encountered, or recognize the great service provided from a smartphone, tablet, or computer terminal. We were pretty happy with rounding clocks and logs. Oh, how times have changed!
Blog written by Dr.Teresa Anderson, EdD, MSN, RN, NE-BC, Chief Nursing Officer, Nobl