Mobile medical carts are an essential part of modern healthcare. Their ability to improve employee workflow, increase patient care standards, safeguard patient data, and increase facility profitability, makes them a versatile tool that can benefit any healthcare setting.
However, there are many types of mobile medical carts, and it can be challenging to choose the most suitable unit for your requirements. It is often the case that a single healthcare facility requires a combination of mobile carts to maximize positive outcomes for employees and patients.
Before purchasing your next mobile medical cart, it’s crucial to consider the benefits of various customizable models.
Mobile Bedside Carts
One of the most popular mobile carts is the bedside cart. Nurses need to check on patients several times per day, and a bedside cart enables them to have all their medical equipment in one place. By placing a bedside cart at the entrance to a ward, the nurse can easily roll it to the patient’s bedside using the smooth-rolling casters.
Employees can store thermometers and non-sensitive items such as plasters and bandages in the side baskets or use biometrically-locking drawers to hold syringes and other dangerous equipment.
There are convenient storage containers to keep essential personal protective equipment such as gloves and masks and secure locking bins to dispose of contaminated materials such as used syringes.
Vital sign monitoring equipment can attach to the unit, allowing nurses to take all the required readings, and they can use the laptop computer to enter their notes.
Mobile Point of Care Carts
These carts share similarities with mobile bedside units but often contain different devices and medications. Physicians may use a point of care cart when on their ward round, using the barcode scanners to record when they prescribe medicines to a patient, and the computer to access patient notes and lab test results.
Because the physician has the most up-to-date data at their disposal and their medical devices on the unit, they can start patient treatment plans more quickly. If medics need to wait for other departments to add information to a file, this can result in delays and poorer patient outcomes.
Mobile Crash Carts
Crash carts are for medical emergencies, and staff often keep these units on wards where patients have health conditions that can suddenly deteriorate. Cardiac treatment teams can keep a mobile crash cart at the entrance to their department, and if a patient suffers a cardiac event, they can quickly reach the point of care.
The medical team can pre-load their medical cart with essential medications and equipment such as atropine, dextrose, dopamine, endotracheal tubes, bite blocks, vacutainers for blood collection, and many other cardiac-related items.
Information is critical when treating a sudden illness, and physicians can use the laptop on the mobile cart to instantly access the patient’s medical file. Because all the required equipment is already on their unit, physicians can begin treatment immediately. By improving the response speed to patient cardiac events, a mobile medical cart could improve patient outcomes and even save lives.
Mobile Anesthesia Carts
Anesthesia carts use biometrically-locking drawers to secure potentially dangerous medications and equipment that is only for use by an anesthesiologist. These highly-trained medical staff can transport their mobile unit to an operating theater or travel alongside a patient on the way there.
Anesthesia carts hold vital signs monitoring equipment and contain emergency response equipment should the patient suffer complications during surgery. Static can gather on standard caster wheels during movement across a floor, and therefore it is crucial to ensure carts that carry sensitive electronic equipment use conductive casters.
These wheels intelligent prevent static electricity from transferring on to the cart’s metal frame and send the charge harmlessly back to the floor. When using conductive casters, medics can be confident their electronic devices are in a safe operational condition when they reach the point of care.
Final Thoughts
You can customize your mobile medical cart to meet precise requirements. Whether you require a unit that can help treat a wide range of patients on a general ward or patients with a specific illness or condition, Scott-Clark Medical can provide the right advice and high quality mobile workstation for your needs.
Contact the Scott-Clark sales team at (512)-756-7300 for a consultation and a free quote. You can also contact us at https://www.facebook.com/scottclarkmedical/