This idea was formed while still in California, where finding public restrooms can be a challenge. There are apps now that help you find toilets. My notion, however, was to link the app to a cleaning service. Another piece of the puzzle is that many facilities aren't open to the public because the owners don't want to worry about keeping the facilities clean. If the app is linked to a cleaning service, more places formerly private might be made public, potentially with a discount on cleaning for participation. Also, users could report cleaning problems through the app and/or potentially upgrade their app to list additional facilities. Also owners could report users who created problems and get them removed or blocked. (advanced - app might even be used to unlock facility doors or charge a fee for some facilities).
I'm always coming up with ideas - sometimes they are later brought to reality by someone with more skills than myself. So I will write these things down so that if they come to pass, I can say, "I thought of that, back in..." Of course, ideas I might bring to reality myself will be kept top secret until they are unleashed upon the world.
Saturday, October 11, 2014
Public Toilet
Friday, August 22, 2014
Public transit
If people could be guaranteed a 2.5' bubble of personal space, all forms of public transit would be more popular.
Sunday, June 1, 2014
First clinical rotation in nursing
Due to lack of employment opportunities in Australia, I've started nursing school. In my first rotation in a hospital ward, these are the two inventions I'd like to see further developed and integrated into practice:
1. Bed scales. Unfortunately, the ones at this link only measure to the nearest pound. Nurses spend time measuring fluid balance of patients - critical to keep track of the fluids going in and coming out. A more precise measuring system could take some of the work out of tracking patient fluid balance. I found some other more sophisticated beds online - but they're designed for ICU patients with other very expensive features.
2. Video monitoring. This development is awesome and implementation simple. The patient gets a screen with a camera like most computers now have standard. Video processing can monitor the patient's pulse and breath rate. The patient can also use the camera to video-chat with relatives or the front nursing desk. Rather than occasional monitoring of vital signs, the camera system continuously monitors vitals and flags irregularities for investigation. Of course, for patients whose condition is not so critical, they can turn off video monitoring for privacy. They'll forget to turn it back on, so there will be a timer function, perhaps with an alert. If the patient doesn't respond, the camera goes back on. (see video)