A brainchild waiting to get started

Nurse Jenny Janson hatched several inventions in the business and competed for the Queen Silvia Nursing Award with a voice-controlled alarm. But the area you work in lacks innovation routines – good ideas get stuck on the drawing board.

Jenny Jansson received her nursing degree from Gävle University in 2008. Aside from a few shifts to Sundsvall as a staff appointee, she has been loyal to Gävle Hospital all these years. I was able to work in the Stroke Ward, the Emergency Medical Department, Infection and most recently in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit.

She comes from a creative and practical family. The daughter danced competitively and participated in theater her entire 20-year-old life. The sister is a make-up artist. Others in the family do something practical or have their own solutions for most things.

I come up with ideas and learn better when I’m moving around or messing around with something. It suits me well working as a Nurse, you are constantly on the go and need to be a problem solver. Both at work and when I am resting, for example, going on a long walk, many thoughts come up. As soon as I come up with something good, I get impulsive and driving, says Jenny Janson.

I have an idea about the sound alert

One day when she was working in the infection department of Gävle Hospital, she came to a patient who exclaimed with relief in her voice:

“It’s good that you’re coming now, I tried to sound the alarm but I couldn’t find the button.”

I commented on Jenny Janson. I thought of all the patients in a similar situation, who, because of vision problems, pain, or nervous influence, have difficulty finding or pressing a button.

– I thought about it and suddenly I thought of all the voting systems around. We can tell the phone to call someone and then you should be able to alert the staff using your voice. Jenny Janson says that a system that can be activated in a number of ways, both physically and with sound, increases the chance that all patients will be able to trigger the alarm at the right time, which increases patient safety.

She told colleagues and her boss about her idea, who all thought it was good and should be implemented. Shortly thereafter, she submitted her entry for the Queen Silvia Award for Nursing and was selected, but fell short before the final.

Jenny Janson has created many other ideas at work. One aims to handle all the paperwork that follows the many fluid measurements taken in the infectious disease ward.

– Very often you do not have time to fill in the lists after measurements, and then they are forgotten. I imagine a glass container with a sensor that can measure the exact amount of liquid. It can sum several measurements and then reset them to zero if necessary. Then you’ll get a better idea of ​​whether the patient is dehydrated, for example.

This idea has also received praise from colleagues. But at present, none of Jenny Janson’s inventions has become a reality.

You need someone to play with and get help developing prototypes and evaluating the invention. At Gävleborg, we don’t have a routine of how to capture and achieve innovations. It’s a shame, because I’m convinced those of us who work in healthcare are aware of many solutions to improve healthcare.