If you or a family member has ever been admitted to a hospital, you know how important nurses are. They take care of us when we’re most vulnerable, and comfort us with a smile when we’re in an unfamiliar place and facing an uncertain future.Nurses are the heart of the hospital. They are also at the heart of everything we do here at Voalte.
When Trey Lauderdale came up with the initial concept for Voalte five years ago, his goal was to make it easier for nurses to communicate with each other. Nurses at our local hospital, Sarasota Memorial Health Care System, were first to use Voalte One smartphones back in 2009. The feedback they provided then and continue to provide today has helped us shape Voalte One into a rich, dynamic solution that’s now used by leading hospitals throughout the country.
Every year, we pay tribute to our local nurses with a celebration during National Nurses Week. Last Tuesday, we joined our friends at Sarasota Memorial for a Voalte-sponsored game show, where we handed out gift cards from local restaurants and spas, and awarded cash prizes and Voalte goodies to some lucky winners. For us, the prize is always seeing smiles on the nurses’ faces. And those smiles aren’t only reserved for Nurses Week. It may be due to our bright pink pants, but happy nurses are always first to greet us when we visit Voalte hospitals.
While Voalte solutions and our vision have grown beyond bedside communication to include other functions vital to a smooth clinical workflow, nurses know they always come first for us. Whether we’re on-site at Children’s of Alabama, Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles or here at home at Sarasota Memorial, nurses thank us for making their jobs easier. Considering that nurses have one of the most difficult jobs in the world, we consider it the least we can do.
Last week, we released the results of our first Special Report: “Top 10 Clinical Communication Trends.” More than 1,000 nurses responded to a national survey sponsored by Voalte and American Nurse Today, the Official Journal of the American Nurses Association. Our goal was to identify the communication pain points that make it difficult for nurses to do their jobs efficiently. Some of the results were shocking; others were reassuring. Be sure to check it out to see what nurses are saying about the struggles they face every day.
At some point, we all may find ourselves being admitted to the hospital. When that time comes, let’s hope the nurse assigned to our care has the tools he or she needs to do their jobs efficiently … and with a smile.
Shown above: Voalte Account Manager Nate Levine (center) with Sarasota Memorial Health Care nurses: Kathleen McDonald, RN, Maria Murray, PCT, Sara Campbell, RN, and Karen Van Der Weert, RN.