I am hoping that it is still ok to post a nursing question that is not directly IV related. Please respond to me via email rather than through the forum. My email is [email protected]
I would like to know what your hospital does with "directions for use" of things like pumps, equipment, supplies, etc Currently we photocopy the manufacturer's instructions on how to use the item and place it in a Product Reference Tool which each nursing unit has a copy of. Thirteen years ago this manual replaced our own procedures that we kept in a Nursing Procedures manual. The thought was that instead of sitting down with the manufacturer's instructions and writing out a procedure from them, we would just use the actual instructions.
The problem is now that the Product Reference Tool is sadly out-of-date, full of instructions on things we no longer use here, and missing instructions on equipment we DO have. It will be a major project to redo it so I wanted to see if anyone can offer a better way of doing this. I believe that nurses DO still need access to this information - the manufacturer's instructions are what you would be held to in a courtroom. so I don't think we can eliminate it.
Any and all ideas would be greatly appreciated! If it would be easier, you could direct me to your Policy/Procedure Committee chair. Whatever help you could provide would be wonderful! Thanks so much!  Wendy Erickson