Many nurses have heard that keeping a water bottle at the nurses station violates The Joint
Commission standards. But is that true?

In this episode of Better RN, hosts Alyssa Saklak, BSN, RN, CMSRN, and Laurin Henderson​, MSN,
RN, CMSRN, talk with Northwestern Medicine Accreditation, Clinical Compliance and Policy
managers Rene Catalano, MS, RN, and Besa Tole to separate fact from fiction. They explain
where the "no drinks at the nurses station" myth likely began, who sets workplace safety
standards and how regulatory surveys help nurses provide safer care.

What if nurses could spend less time charting and more time connecting with patients? At Northwestern Medicine, nurse leaders Sarah Richmond, MSN, RN, NEA-BC, and Karen Mahnke, MSN, RN, NEA-BC, have been piloting ambient listening technology that generates documentation from natural conversations with patients at the bedside. In this episode, they share how nurses are helping to shape this technology and why the future of AI in healthcare may be more human than many expect.

"The goal of technology is to make your life easier. So, you have to be willing to push back a little bit, and hopefully there will be enhancements that end up helping your workflow."

-Sarah Richmond, MSN, RN, NEA-BC, Patient Care Manager, Northwestern Memorial Hospital

"Nursing is a caring profession and there's so much more to it than checking the boxes. I would encourage everybody to not be afraid of [technology] but to use it in a way that it enhances your practice."

-Karen Mahnke, MSN, RN, NEA-BC, Bernthal Family Chief Nurse Executive, Vice President, Operations, Northwestern Medicine Catherine Gratz Griffin Lake Forest Hospital