When it comes to medical carts on wheels in a hospital setting, there is no excuse for your cart to suddenly shut down with no warning, interrupting your work and your time with your patients. A cart without a state of charge indicator requires healthcare providers to check their computer’s battery life constantly.
Luckily, our state-of-charge indicator can help keep your workflow smooth and uninterrupted. Our Hot Swap battery system allows you to quickly change out batteries and keep going on your shift for another 6-10 hours. If your computer-on-wheels (COW) doesn’t have a battery charge indicator, then it’s time for a change.
On-site battery monitoring
Unfortunately, many COW batteries are monitored remotely, which does not help the healthcare provider using the COW to know when the battery levels are low. This does not allow the provider to plan properly, or to adjust their workflow so that they can swap out batteries, then finish entering important data. If data in the electronic health records (EHR) system doesn’t automatically save, this can cost the provider several minutes of valuable time.
The Scott-Clark SOCI II indicator allows users to monitor their battery levels on-site. It has an easy-to-see and easy-to-understand interface. The built-in battery intelligence constantly checks with the battery levels and relays that information to the interface. It gives users a real-time clock with an estimate of how much battery power is left.
Providers can then time their workflow, patient visits, and data entry tasks. At around 20 minutes, providers can quickly swap out the used battery with a freshly-charged battery using the Hot Swap battery system for medical carts on wheels. The total switch process is minimally interruptive, taking only about 30 seconds to complete.
Increased efficiency
Because you don’t have to worry about when your battery will run out, you can spend more time on the things that actually matter. Our Hot Swap battery system and state-of-charge indicator mean that you don’t have to constantly seek out a charging station for your medical cart, leaving the room to enter data or look up test results.
Instead, you can spend more quality, one-on-one time with your patients, getting to know them, and understand their medical concerns. You can provide them with real-time information about their condition, along with a treatment plan that works with their medical history and lifestyle needs.
More time with patients
According to this 2015 study, doctors and nurses spend the majority of their shifts at computers, entering data, without conducting direct patient care. This takes away from the patient’s experience and satisfaction with their visit, and it takes doctors and nurses away from what really matters: the patient.
Being able to enter data while you are with a patient also cuts down on the amount of time, you’ll spend entering data on breaks or at the end of your shift. Rather than spending an hour or two entering several patients’ data into the EHR, you can get most of the work done right then and there, leaving you more quality time with your patients.
Reducing errors
Entering data with the patient in the room, instead of entering it later along with a large stack of other patients’ information, means that the rate of data entry errors you may inadvertently make will be reduced or even eliminated. A fresh set of eyes is less likely to make mistakes when it comes to computer work.
Errors in the medical industry cost, on average, between $17 and $29 billion annually. This cost is reflected not only in doctor and nurse liability insurance premiums but also in the patient’s insurance premiums. The unnecessary or accidental tests, procedures, and mistakes can cost a patient their job, their lifestyle, and sometimes even their life.
Reducing errors is in everyone’s best interest, both for economic and well-being reasons. Medical laptop carts can help reduce these errors right where they begin: in the patient’s room.
For more information on how this technology can help your hospital or clinic, please call Scott-Clark Medical at 1-512-756-7300.