Nurses are incredible people; they work long, tiring shifts every week and often put patients ahead of their needs. But their devotion to helping patients doesn't stop at nightshifts, code browns and skipping lunch - some of them have gone the extra mile to produce game-changing medical inventions, many of which have become commonplace in any healthcare setting.

Here are five nursing inventions throughout history that have changed healthcare for the better...

1. Neoslip

When Registered Nurse Neomi Bennett realised the difficulties patients had with putting on tight compression stockings, she developed a brilliant solution to the problem.

The Neoslip pouch slips easily onto the patient's foot, allowing the compression stocking to slide effortlessly over it and onto the leg. The NHS has now adopted this innovative design, and it has the potential to save millions of lives. Neoslip is also highly cost-effective at less than £10 per pair.

Thanks to Neoslip, the time taken to put on compression stockings has been dramatically reduced, making the patient's experience much more comfortable. Nurses can now devote more time to other essential duties.

Find out more about Neoslip. 

2. Sanitary Towels

It's hard to believe that women ever managed to get by without decent period protection! During World War I, medics and nurses used 'cellucotton' to treat wounded soldiers. Cellucotton was five times as absorbent as regular cotton. Field nurses quickly realised that Cellucotton would be perfect for use as a sanitary towel, and Kotex brought the product to the market shortly after the war ended. 

3. Feeding Tubes for War Veterans

Back in the 1940s, during WWII, an African-American nurse named Bessie Blount-Griffin invented a unique feeding tube for use by paralysed war veterans. The veterans would bite down on the tube and receive a mouthful of liquid food so they could feed themselves instead of relying on others. 

4. Ostomy Bags

The Ostomy Bag is a life-saving device in more ways than one; it provides effective waste disposal for those with bowel complications and allows for a more discreet, sanitary disposal so wearers can maintain an active social life.

But did you know that the Ostomy Bag was invented by a Danish nurse in 1954? After visiting her sister, who had just undergone surgery for colon cancer, Elise Sorensen wanted to create a better option than the post-surgery appliance her sister was given for waste, which leaked and smelled terrible.

Elise developed the still-used plastic pouch that changed how ostomy patients have lived ever since. 

5. The Crash Cart

Originally called the crisis cart, this life-saving invention was designed by a registered nurse named Anita Dorr in the late 1960s. She saw the time wasted by healthcare professionals struggling to gather the right equipment in emergencies and came up with the set of drawers on wheels we still use today.

The crash cart contains essential equipment, such as defibrillators, needles, IV kits and emergency medication.

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