I just noticed we burn 10 minutes every round hunting a vitals cart/WOW that isn’t on 2% — last night at 3 a.m. the barcode scanner died mid–med pass, then the BP cuff timed out, and I ended up dragging extension cords room to room… why do we do it that way? Does anyone have a dead-simple charging/tag routine that sticks on a busy floor?
Quick fix that stuck for us: a 0200 ‘battery sweep’ — whoever’s free checks every WOW/scanner, swaps in charged spares from a wall rack, and docks anything under 40% so it’s back by 0400; treat them like ICU patients and intervene before they crash. Caveat: it only works smoothly if you have one extra set of scanner batteries per pod; @OP would a 10‑minute sweep fit your staffing?
What stuck for us was assigning each WOW a numbered parking spot per pod and building it into handoff: off‑going docks, plugs the scanner, and flips a little ‘red = docked/charging, green = grab and go’ tag. If spots get crowded, we added a QR sticker to log % at handoff into a tiny sheet so a charge‑buddy can chase stragglers — cut our 3 a.m. scavenger hunt by half. @mazi338 would your crew tolerate the color tags, or too much visual clutter?
Quick win for us: the night lead does a 3‑minute 2:30 a.m. sweep — plug every WOW, drop any low scanners into a labeled dock by Pyxis, and slap a bright ‘plug me’ band on stragglers so the next pass isn’t guessing. If you’re lean on staff, rotate the sweep by hallway; @mazi338 think that’d fly on your floor?