Medical laptop carts provide numerous benefits to healthcare facilities. They are an excellent long-term investment for any hospital, clinic, or other caregiving facility, with many advantages for both your personnel and your patients.
If your healthcare facility does not yet use medical laptop carts, discover the top reasons why you should purchase them as soon as possible.
Ergonomic Advantages
The first and most significant reason to use a medical laptop cart is improved ergonomics. Many studies have demonstrated the health impact of improper computer ergonomics in an office context or when working from home, and the same principles apply in healthcare environments.
Laptop carts are essentially height-adjustable laptop stands, allowing your personnel to stand or sit up straight and keep the computer screen at eye level, no matter their height or stature.
Your personnel can use laptop carts while sitting or standing, providing a significant advantage over traditional computer rooms and helping prevent or limit ergonomics-related health issues, such as eye strain, carpal tunnel syndrome, or neck and back pain.
Laptop carts are adapted to support an external keyboard and mouse set, allowing them to function as standing desks, reducing the need to hunch over the laptop or use the often less comfortable and less tactile laptop keyboard.
Better Mobility Equals Better Care
Medical laptop carts’ main benefit is mobility; they possess a set of caster wheels designed for medical environments, made of non-abrasive materials intended to avoid skid marking the floor.
Although it may seem obvious, the mobility granted by the casters allows caregivers to bring the medication, equipment, and medical files contained in a medical cart directly to the hospital bed or the point of care.
For example, a nurse can use a laptop cart at a patient’s bedside to check their medical records and administer medication without leaving the room. In turn, it allows the nurse to spend extended periods speaking with the patient, getting to know them better, and answering their needs.
Studies have shown that patient satisfaction and chances of favorable health outcomes both improve when caregivers spend more time interacting with them face-to-face. Patients feel their stories and experiences are being listened to and that personnel treat them more efficiently when given proper care and attention.
The Power of Mobile Power Systems
With the right battery system, a powered medical laptop cart can function as a workstation for the entirety of the shift, keeping the laptop battery topped off continuously and preventing your personnel from having to connect the laptop to a wall outlet constantly.
Powered medical laptop carts also possess a significant advantage over unpowered mobile stands; the same battery system can also power other equipment, from the basic to the life-saving. For example, you can install handheld scanners, printers, vital signs devices, and a whole range of other peripherals on the same cart, connected to the same battery.
Various types of battery technology for medical carts exist. Standard lead-acid batteries, similar in form factor to car batteries, provide long-lasting capacity but are heavy and take longer to recharge. You can use smaller, lighter lithium-ion batteries instead if weight is a concern, but they run out of charge more quickly and have the tendency of running very hot.
The best power system for medical laptop carts is Scott-Clark Medical’s Flexible Mobile Cart Power Technology (FMCPT). FMCPT batteries employ lithium-iron-phosphate (LiFePO4) cells, which offer several advantages:
- Can be retrofitted on existing medical cart fleets
- Can be recharged without prior removal
- Battery lasts 6 to 10 hours on a full charge
- Charges to 100% in only 2.5 hours
- Lightweight design at only 8 lbs.
- Supports hot-swapping (immediate removal and replacement of a battery)
- Supports up to 2 batteries at once to keep equipment continuously charged
Better Patient Security and Confidentiality
When the computers replaced paper files, they introduced the convenience and improved security of all digital patient files, records, and information.
With a fleet of mobile laptop carts, your caregiving facility can better protect this information, eliminating the need to rely on computer rooms and potentially leaving a monitor displaying sensitive information.
Your IT department can also configure your laptops to improve privacy settings, installing passwords, biometric locks, and an array of other security options.
Fewer Mistakes for More Efficient Care
The less time your personnel have to spend running back and forth between the patient’s bedside and the computer room, the fewer chances of them making mistakes, forgetting information, or entering the wrong data into a given patient’s file.
With a mobile laptop cart right at the patient’s bedside, your nurses and doctors can access the information they need (e.g., medical history, test results, etc.) instantaneously, entering data and updating entries without relying on old-fashioned handwritten notes.
The risk of opening the wrong file or administering an incorrect prescription is also significantly reduced. These factors combine to improve overall patient care and safety, reducing the risk of costly errors and accidents.
Medical Laptop Carts are Essential Healthcare Equipment
At Scott-Clark Medical, we understand the challenges caregiving facilities face every day; this is why our mission is to help you help others. We offer a wide range of mobile medical carts, laptop carts, and assorted peripherals, as well as our patented FMCPT battery technology, granting your mobile carts long-term power and convenience.
Call our team at (512) 756-7300 to request a quote or information regarding our products and services.