Whenever one sees doctors or nurses with a stethoscope it’s usually draped around their neck or stuffed in a pocket. But one RN’s battle with a herniated disc and filling idle time led to a device that helps users clip stethoscopes onto the waistband of scrubs or trousers.
Sarah Mott’s Cheshire, Connecticut business Nurseborn is, not surprisingly, aimed at nurses. She says feedback from nurses has been positive. They say it’s easy to use and comfortable. More importantly, it takes stethoscopes off their neck. Mott says nurses like this because they may have neck pain, be concerned about germ laden stethoscopes or may have latex allergies.
Mott, who works part time at Elim Park Baptist Home on the post-acute rehab floor, charges about $12 for the device. But another potential source of income is for company logos — there’s a place on the clip for those.
RCM Outsourcing: Balancing Human Expertise & Smart Technology
Greenway Health blends smart technology with human expertise to elevate revenue cycle.
Nurseborn may not have come into being were it not for University of Connecticut’s Intellectual Property and Entrepreneurship Law Clinic. When she pitched her idea, it liked her idea so much it applied for a patent on her behalf, a move that costs thousands of dollars.
Mott thinks doctors may like it too but she has not yet explored that market in depth.
Mott says she is developing more ideas and she encourages other nurses to look at what could be improved using insights gathered from their work and become entrepreneurs themselves.
There are several startups that have focused on the nurses or co-founded by nurses. Kathryn Bowles of Penn Nursing is the co-founder of RightCare Solutions, and co-developed a tool to identify patients who should be referred to post-acute-care services.