Medical carts are a common sight in healthcare facilities like hospitals, nursing homes, and assisted living facilities. These are crowded and busy places that demand quick yet methodic actions in critical moments. That&#;s when a well-organized medical cart can help healthcare professionals swiftly find what they need, leading to better patient or resident care.
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At DosePacker, we provide innovative solutions that eliminate the hassle of frequently sorting and organizing your medical carts in care communities. Get in touch with our team to learn more about our advanced medication management solutions. Our products optimize your workflows so you can focus on what matters most: delivering superior care to your care community residents.
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What are Medical Carts?
Medical carts are portable units designed to facilitate the safe and efficient storage of medications and other accessories within healthcare facilities. Med carts are usually compact, easy to move, and perceived to increase nurses' and caregivers' productivity.
A medical cart usually has the following components:
Medication drawers:
These drawers are for organized storage of medicines to be given to patients or residents.
Accessory drawers
: Usually, additional accessories like syrup bottles, medicine cups, and more are stored in these drawers
File compartment
: This component is found on the sides of a medical cart in facilities where patients' files are used to record and track medicine administration. With the advent of technology, patient records are stored online, which sometimes may eliminate the need for this compartment.
Waste bins:
Finally, a waste bin is also included on the sides to appropriately discard the medical waste with ease. It can also be used to trash sharp objects like needles efficiently.
Look out for these components when choosing the right medication cart for your nursing home or care facility!
Features of Medical Carts
Medication carts come in various types that vary in their features. Understanding the different types of carts can help care communities choose the right one for their unique requirements.
Smooth Rolling Casters:
First and foremost, it is important to have multi-directional, smooth casters. They make maneuvering medication carts for nursing homes a breeze. Modern med carts also have a feature to lock these casters when stationary to enhance stability.
Adjustable height:
The height of the work surface and shelves of a medical cart may seem insignificant at first. However, these carts are used by multiple people on any given day. Having an option to adjust the height of the work surface will make everyone&#;s tasks smoother.
Barcode Scanner:
A scanner can make it easy for caregivers and nurses to access resident profiles and medical notes. They also help them identify the correct dose for administration and record the medpass process on the go.
Integrated Software:
Many modern medication carts, including Dosepacker's
DoseKart, include onboard integration with EHR and facility management software CareCommunityOS. This enables caregivers to avoid medication errors by scanning the compliance packs to identify the correct dose and time of drug administration.
By choosing the right medical supply cart, healthcare providers can enhance their operational efficiency and improve patient care in their respective settings.
Benefits of an Organized Medical Cart
Medication cart organization is not just about aesthetics; it is scientifically proven to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of workflow.
An organized cart can transform daily operations and patient care in the following impactful ways:
Increases Staff Productivity
: A well-organized cart helps staff work more confidently and efficiently, increasing productivity and resulting in a more positive work environment. With everything in its designated place, caregivers can quickly access what they need, allowing for faster patient care and reducing delays during critical moments.
Reduces medication errors
: Annually, medication errors cost approximately
$42 million USD
across the globe. A med cart organizer can help keep such costly mistakes at bay. In addition, you can use
compliance med packs
that come labeled with the day, date, and time of drug administration.
Better Inventory Management:
Effective organization aids care communities in ensuring timely restocking and avoiding shortages, which helps maintain a steady flow of essential supplies. Encouraging routine checks helps discard expired or discontinued medicines.
Keeps meds with controlled substances in check
: It is a best practice to keep controlled substances in check in all sorts of care communities. Period organization helps keep track of their pill count and prevent misuse of such medicines.
The company is the world’s best hospital medication carts supplier. We are your one-stop shop for all needs. Our staff are highly-specialized and will help you find the product you need.
Best Practices for Medication Cart Organization
Here are some key strategies to keep your med cart in optimal condition:
Training:
Regularly train staff on organization protocols and the importance of maintaining an organized cart.
Standardize Layouts:
Use a consistent layout for all carts to help staff locate items with ease. Group similar items together for quick access. In addition, you should keep carts clean and sanitized to maintain hygiene standards.
Regular Audits:
Regularly check and restock items as needed. Audits help you place a prescription refill at the pharmacies well in advance. With our software,
CareCommunityOS,
you can place a refill request through your med cart-mounted system and track its delivery status in real time as well.
Periodic Maintenance:
If you find any issues in the cart during your audit, do call for maintenance. You can face issues like faulty caster, jammed drawers, or dysfunctional locks. All these require immediate attention, as ignoring them can lead to obstacles in patient and resident care.
Adhering to these best practices for organizing a med cart can ensure a more efficient, effective, and safe working environment. Consistent organization not only streamlines daily operations but also supports high standards of patient care and staff satisfaction.
Experience Superior Solutions with DosePacker
DosePacker understands the challenges put forth by age-old medical carts and aims to resolve them with advanced medication management solutions.
Introducing DoseKart - a smart medication storage cart that provides a convenient and organized method that naked med-pass exponentially efficient for caregivers.
Key features include:
Medication storage drawers to store compliance packs and other accessories
Barcode scanner that makes recording the drug administration process easy.
Integration with CareCommunityOS software and
MyDoses App
to check and maintain resident profiles on the go
Motorized Movement with accelerators and brakes for
Imagine saving time, minimizing errors, and boosting patient safety&#;all with one reliable, well-organized medication cart. That's the reality with DosePacker's DoseKart.
Don&#;t Just Organize &#; Optimize
Enhance Care and Efficiency with DosePacker
&#;Contact us today to experience the DosePacker difference. Your caregivers deserve the best tools to provide the best care.
An unorganized medical cart reduces treatment time and increases frustration. Building necessary habits to keep your medical cart organized is vital to maintaining a happy working environment.
How your medical cart is organized depends on what its primary function will be. Administering IV&#;s or medications, Anesthesia, emergencies and checking in on patients all require ease of access to different supplies.
An organized medical cart is also vital to maintain a sanitary environment. If supplies are mixed or improperly disposed of, infections may spread to additional areas of your medical facility.
Keep large equipment like oxygen tanks, and portable defibrillators/monitors on the outside of your cart. This allows for easy access to items used often.
Carts also have additional options of adding different medical cart organizers like placing a basket on the outside of your cart, so larger items do not take up additional space.
Probably one of the most important and easiest places to become disorganized, medical cart drawers should be the first thing you arrange. Keep frequently used supplies in the same drawer to reduce time opening and closing compartments.
Separating drawers depending on function will also improve your ability to treat patients rapidly. For example, keep all pediatric supplies in one compartment so during an emergency you know exactly where they are stored.
Use a medical cart organizer like drawer separators to guarantee items do not intertwine during transportation.
The last thing you want to happen during treatment is to open a drawer and find that what you need is out-of-stock. Before every shift, go through your supplies and check you have everything you need.
One way to guarantee that you do not run out of supplies is to restock items at the end of every shift.
Medical carts on wheels with drawers are on average shared between medical professionals. Unless you work in a smaller facility and are able to have an individual cart, it can be hard to maintain an organized cart with multiple users.
Label clearly every drawer with what they should contain so your employees have a clear organizational guideline to follow. Using labels also reduces confusion and time spent searching for supplies.
Providing a checklist as a medical cart organizer allows different medical professionals to see what items need to be re-stocked and are stored on each cart.
When creating your checklist, make sure to write the expiration date next to all medications. That way when it is time to stock items a medical practitioner can easily replace outdated medications without needing to look at every container.
Clearly identify where hazardous supplies should be stored on medical carts on wheels with drawers. Typically, you would store them in a lower drawer with dual-locking capabilities.
On-board sharps or trash containers are an important component to add to your medical cart. Storing these objects in an additional storage component within a drawer double safeguards patients and employees from interacting with needs or contaminated supplies.
Store unhazardous items you use often in a basket outside of your medical carts on wheels with drawers. For example gloves, masks, and extra-electrodes
Customize For Your Needs
Remember there are a variety of additional medical carts organizers available in today&#;s market. Assess what your needs are and purchase additional medical cart organizer items to make your job easier.
Contact us to discuss your requirements of pediatric hospital bed. Our experienced sales team can help you identify the options that best suit your needs.