Dionne Ovid brings change to Sangre Grande ICU

SEEING an idea to fruition can be gratifying. Doubly so, if it’s poised to be a game changer.

Dionne Ovid is experiencing this first-hand.

Five years ago, Ovid, a nurse at the Sangre Grande Hospital, came up with a concept to reduce mishaps and clutter in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), where she has been assigned since 2014.

Today, she believes her invention, the Do Block, which was installed in the ICU last year, is set to revolutionise the local medical field.

An upbeat Ovid told WMN it is already making a difference in the lives of staff and patients in the unit.

“The feedback has been phenomenal thus far,” she said.

“We are getting a new hospital later this year and I know that the staff at the ICU would like to have it installed in the new hospital.”

Ovid said officials at Port of Spain General Hospital are also interested in getting the Do Block for the ICU.

The Do Block is essentially an organiser that houses items commonly associated with critical care facilities – Ambu (artificial manual breathing units) bags, suction yankauers (oral suctioning tool used in medical procedures), nebuliser cups, resuscitation bags and the cables surrounding the bedsides of patients.

It contains a clamp and cable organisers that are assembled on a board to de-clutter all of the consumable and non-consumable items in the environment.

Smooth, with an easy to clean surface, the Do-Block is durable, waterproof, fire resistant, recyclable, expandable and resistant to chemical corrosion.

Ovid said, “Working in the ICU means a lot of lines and monitoring for the patient. But we also have a lot of equipment at the bedside.

“All of these lines are tripping hazards for staff and we have to house them at the bedside because we deal with critical patients, and that means you are always in emergency mode.”

She said an ICU, by its very nature, is usually a cluttered environment.

“So the need for organisation is a major part of how I came up with this concept to streamline the space.”

A former student of Mayaro Secondary School, Ovid began her career in nursing 13 years ago. But it was not her first love.

“My mother was a little bit persistent and saw something in me that I couldn’t see apparently. She encouraged me to become a nurse.”

But, Ovid said, she was extremely hesitant.

“I really didn’t want to.”

But after some persuasion, she eventually embraced the idea and was accepted into a nursing programme.

The Coal Mine, Sangre Grande resident said she never looked back.

“Nursing has been a 360 for me in terms of everything that I do. It has been very rewarding for me, to say the least. I am really enjoying the profession.”

So much so that she is also a clinical instructor at the College of Science, Technology and Applied Arts of Trinidad and Tobago (Costaatt).

She is also the founder of Ovid’s Workspace, Innovation and Optimisation Ltd, which was launched in 2021.

“I am an innovator and change agent. I believe I can make a difference, and having a company gave me that control to do so. I can reimagine and recreate.”

She believes nurses aren’t given their just due and have a “very small voice” in the scheme of things.

“I want so much for nursing, to put it in a different light to how it is being seen now.”

For Ovid, who describes herself as driven, persistent and positive, the Do Block is not just her personal invention. It is also a symbol of progress – a way to debunk of many of the misconceptions commonly associated with the profession.

“It is a statement for nurses to recognise their power and do something outside the box instead of just subscribing to the labels that are now given.”

Ovid told WMN she had conceptualised the idea for an organiser for the ICU long before 2018 but never got the opportunity to pursue it.

“When you made suggestions, sometimes persons would dismiss it and they would be like ‘No,’ this can’t work.”

But she said things changed one day when one of the ICU’s head nurses asked staff to suggest ideas to improve the workspace.

Ovid said she did not hesitate, as the concept was already in her mind.

After carrying out much research in 2018 to determine its feasibility, she submitted it to the Eastern Regional Health Authority.

Ovid said the Caribbean Industrial Research Institute also liked her concept and invited her to an interview. The institute later helped her to develop a prototype for the Do Block.

“I did that for a couple years, and in doing so they helped me conceptualise what I wanted as a product. Then I did a 3D print of the Do Block and went on to install it in the ICU at the Sangre Grande Hospital.”

She said she also had to get two referrals to get the item sold in the region.

“The tendering process requires two referrals. It is the standard process to distribute any product. For the purchase of any item, a process that is transparent is policy.”

Ovid said her journey was a bit different.

“I created and invented this to organise the area, so it happened in the reverse order.”

She regards the Do Block’s cost-effectiveness as perhaps its most significant attribute.

“It was designed, in part, to reduce infections and unwanted cost in the ICU. A lot of items sometimes fall on the floor because you are just draping it along the bedside and sometimes they get knocked over and fall to the ground.”

She said that, in itself, is a cost.

“When we are talking about infection as a cost to the ICU, it is a lot. It could go anywhere from $500,000 to $1 million.

“In first world countries like the United Kingdom, hospital-acquired infections could run a cost of a billion pounds a year. Just acquiring an ICU infection will prolong your hospitalisation and increase mortality figures.

“So with all these things, investing in an item that will organise the space makes good economical sense.”

The nurse, who holds a Master’s degree in Health Promotion (with distinction), said her parents, Noel and Victoria Ovid were very helpful when she first brought the idea to them and have continued to be supportive.

“My father is a jack of most things and I am a master of some of my own.”

She laughed when she recalled how the project began literally with a slab of wood to which she attached hooks and some PVC fittings to lodge the Ambu bags and other items.

Apart from her boyfriend, Lindon Dickson, whom she regards as a God-send, Ovid said several other people, including Nishkal George, Sadira Nagassar, Nandaie Moonilal and members of the ICU team assisted her along the way.

Ovid said one of her former lecturers at Costaatt, Abraham Bremnor, whom she described as her “biggest mentor,” continues to be an inspiration.

“He is always encouraging me to go for what I want, always in the background spurring me on.”

Encouraged by the early success of the Do-Block, Ovid believes innovation is a major platform through which the country can diversify its economy.

“We should be promoting and encouraging ideas innovation and taking the market international.”

In the meantime, she continues to seek ways to support and boost the morale of nurses through the Sangre Grande-based, non-profit organisation, Nurses Fraternity of TT, which was established last year.

“We need to look out and protect each-other when members become sick or hospitalised. We need to make sure they are comfortable. It is about changing the status quo, giving back to the persons that are caring for everybody.”

Ovid said at the end of the day it is about making a positive difference.

“You just want to be able to use your education, the foundations that you were taught and just make a positive impact."