We have had several injuries in our IV nurses who repeatedly push an IV cart house wide. We were not able to find an ergonomic cart that met all the requirements of locking, storage and mobility. We rigged our previous cart with an adjustable bike handle to better steer. We have had carpal tunnel and back injuries. We are in the process of implementing larger casters to reduce the push pull force.
We are interested in hearing what other facilities use. Our IV team is saying the IV supplies, saline and Lido must be locked and the cart cannot go into the room w/ the IV nurse. We hear there are wire shopping type carts that are very light and mobile but this does not meet the locking requirement. Would appreciate any information you have on requirements and how to avoid further injury to staff.Â
Thanks.
Diane Mitchell RN BSN MA, Manager IVT & Infusion Center, SSM St. Mary's Health Center, St. Louis
We have successfully used carts from Custom Comfort, Inc. Easy to roll, locking capability. We currently have 3 in use.
Their website is www.customcomfort.com
Diane Mitchell RN
We got tired of lugging around the big clumsy carts and took a different approach. We obtained a large duffel/sports type bag, with a long strap. We hang this on our site rite machine which is on wheels with a little basket for supplies. We hang it over the basket/ The bag contains the larger supplies, PICC, gowns, etc., the basket contains the smaller supplies, flushes, tape, etc. We do pull new supplies for every patient. you might think it's inconvenient to restock for every patient, but I found that with the big cart, if you weren't meticulous about staying on top of every supply, you would get caught short sometimes. This has worked out very well for us. We also have a separate bag for midlines that can be inserted without site rite that we can just stock and go, even if the other nurse is working on a another PICC. Obviously this doesn't address the question of locking. Since the supplies are always with the nurse, I don't know why locking is an issue. When not in use, the whole thing is behind a locked door. I don't know why you couldn't bring the cart into the pt room?? Everyone else
is bringing equipment into the rooms--stat ECHO, GI procedurs, ultrasounds, ekg machines etc.
Diane,
Which model do you use? There were many on the site.
I understand that locking is a JCAHO requirement.
Karen, what about going into isolation rooms?
Gwen