Paediatric nurse hopes her drugs key tracking device will be rolled out nationally

A paediatric nurse is hoping a device she developed to help colleagues find drug keys within seconds will soon be rolled out nationally.

Sally Gray's Key Finder

Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust paediatric practice educator Sally Gray designed Key Finder, a fob that is attached to keys that vibrates and alarms when a member of staff uses a tracking device. This tracker is kept at the nurses' station.

Key Finder has been trialled in the paediatric department at Queen Alexandra Hospital, Portsmouth, for the past six months and has reduced drug errors because staff have more time to prepare medicines, according to Ms Gray. ‘Hopefully it will be available nationally because I believe it will have a huge impact,' she added.

Nurses previously had to call to each other to locate the keys or spend time searching out the person with them.

Using a transmitter next to the nurse station, they can now activate the pager, alerting the person with the keys to return them, and it alerts continuously if a nurse leaves the department with them.

It only vibrates at night and removes the need for staff to call to each other, improving patient experience, Ms Gray said.

She intends to research the impact of the device on drug errors and it will be trialled in other parts of the trust over the next six months.