There are many accessories for a hospital medical supply cart. It is important to make a cart fit the needs of the staff because they will be using it every day. Hospital medical carts should be designed to be long-lasting because many of them are used 24 hours a day, every day. Hospital carts should also be easy to maneuver around beds and other equipment in the rooms. Some useful products and medical supply cart accessories can help hospital workflow.
Keypad Accessories
Many medical computer carts are designed to carry any tablet or computer your facility uses. So the cart you chooses needs to be able to hold a large desktop. This mobile medical cart improves efficiency by allowing you to take your work into each room and spend more time with your patients.
One feature that can help your hospital staff is a pull-out keyboard, which makes it quicker and easier to type as they work. Dual mouse trays also help to accommodate both left and right-handed users, allowing any medical cart to accommodate any employee.
An added accessory that most medical staff prefer is a barcode scanner. On hospital patient ID bands, there is a barcode, once scanned it pulls up all the information on that patient. A barcode scanner is more efficient than typing in a long patient id number.
Battery Accessories
Some carts need to be plugged in to charge or batteries that can be swapped out. Both work well in the hospital setting.
Flexible mobile cart power technology (FMCPT) provides an alternative to frequent problems that older cart battery designs have. With FMCPT a battery pack lasts 6-10 hours once fully charged, it is charged by being plugged in. The battery has an easy pack design that makes it easy to remove and lightweight for any battery exchange.
Hot-swap batteries can be safely removed and replaced without shutting down your hospital cart’s computer. This provides uninterrupted service rather than having to stop and charge the cart’s battery.
Adding Secure Room
Customized medical carts allow you to choose the storage space you need with or without drawers.
There are several locks available to keep medical carts and their supplies secure.
These locks can be unlocked by using a keypad, regular keys, or even a proximity reader. You can have the added feature of an alarm sounding if the drawers have been open for several minutes or tampered with.
Locks are an important way to keep people safe from accidentally taking medications that aren’t theirs or harming themselves with needles.
Surface Options
There are many surfaces available when it comes to medical carts. However, if you are rolling the cart into many hospital rooms, it is best if you have stainless steel carts. This will not allow infectious germs such as MRSA to spread, and it is easy to sanitize and clean.
Plastic surfaces work great for clean storage such as in break rooms or rooms where supplies are held. They do not make great mobile medical carts though; plastic can become rough when worn down, this makes the perfect breeding ground for infectious germs to spread.
Why Personalizing your Medical Carts Improves Efficiency
Personalizing your medical carts to your nurses and doctors needs can improve workflow. Medical carts on wheels with drawers can help to provide nurses with everything they need as they check on all their patients. This added drawer space allows them to prepare every medication they will need while in the patient’s room, so they avoid going back and forth to the supply rooms and patient rooms. Allowing this extra time can help your healthcare professional build a relationship with their patients while delivering meds quicker. This improves job and patient satisfaction.
