When a nurse steps into a patient’s room, they usually have to choose between turning on the light and waking the patient, or fumbling through the dark. This may seem like a small issue, but for patients who need rest to recover, frequent interruptions can be detrimental to their healing. Fortunately, nursing student Anthony Scarpone-Lambert has created a device to solve this issue. It’s a small wearable light called the uNight Light.
The device is a wearable LED that resembles a headlamp for your chest. The device is a bit more high-tech than your everyday headlamp featuring different light modes with specific purposes. The white light setting offers clear and targeted light for examining important vitals while the red light setting is milder and is less disruptive to sleeping patients. The blue light setting promotes alertness and can be used to gently wake up a patient, rather than flipping on bright overhead lights.
All the light settings offer a more narrow, targeted light source so medical workers can examine patients and move about the room without shining a light in their eyes. Scarpone-Lambert and co-founder Jennifferre Mancillas went through 30 prototypes to perfect their design with funding from grants, start-up accelerators, and awards. Once finalized, their start-up, Lumify Care, raised $50,000 to bring the light to the market. The light currently retails for an affordable $22.
According to its developers, more than 400 nurses tested out the light with 90 percent finding it helpful. Lumify Care has 1,500 orders for their product so far and will begin shipping them out next month.
A 2019 study found that 44 percent of nurses perform care in darkness to avoid the disruptions that light causes to patients’ circadian rhythms. This beautifully simple light design solves this problem and improves around the clock medical care for patients without sacrificing their quality of sleep.
Image source: LumifyCare
