What’s (app)ening?

Shands nurses launch smartphone app

For years, Shands at UF nurses have used quick-reference pocket guides when caring for patients at the bedside. Now, there’s an app for that.

Two Shands at UF nurses, in collaboration with the Shands HealthCare Center for Nursing Innovation, have created an application for the iPhone and iPad called  Peds Heart: Post-Operative Pediatric Congenital Cardiac Care. It serves as a digitized reference guide — with evidence-based data culled from multiple references — for pediatric critical care nurses.

“We wanted to take a new approach to our pocket references that would provide instant access to patient care information,” said Lynn Westoff, B.S.N., R.N., Shands at UF Surgical Intensive Care Unit clinical leader and a co-creator of the app. “Many of our nurses use smartphones, so we wanted to capitalize on that technology to create an innovative, easy-to-use electronic reference.”

Westhoff brainstormed ideas for the app with Michael Maymi, B.S.N., R.N., C.C.R.N., a Shands Children’s Hospital Pediatric Intensive Care clinical leader. They presented a business proposal to the Center for Nursing Innovations team: Rose Rivers, Ph.D., R.N., Shands HealthCare chief nursing officer; Ginger Pesata, M.S.N., A.R.N.P., Shands at UF Nursing professional development administrative director; and Jonathon (Tre) Dixon, Shands Jacksonville senior attorney. The team hired a software company to design the app. Westhoff and Maymi provided the content and the illustrations.

Peds Heart is available for download for $9.99 from the Apple store, and will eventually be available for the Droid. Maymi and Westhoff hope it is the first of many Shands-branded smartphone applications.

“We are encouraging our colleagues to step forward if they have any ideas for applications,” Maymi said. “So bring us your apps! We are very fortunate that we work at a place where our ideas can be realized.”