4 Tips for Picking the Most Suitable Medication Cart for Your Healthcare Facility

The purpose of a medication cart is to provide a safe and secure storage option for your medications and portability is another important feature as nurses and medical need to be able to move them around between patients and wards with the minimum of fuss.

When it comes to medication carts for nursing homes, for example, you want to ensure that only authorized users have access to the prescribed medications and another key feature is likely to be a robust and reliable security system to keep the medications secure.

There are many varieties of medication carts available and you need to consider a few key points in order to determine which model is best for your needs.

Working out what you need from your medication cart

A top priority would be to perform a comprehensive assessment of the proposed healthcare environment where you will be using the medication cart.

Take the time to look at your existing workflows and make a list of what you need and what you need to improve on.

Talk to all the medical staff who will be using the cart so that you can find a solution that helps them to do their job more effectively and efficiently.

Also, bear in mind that there are many different types of medical carts available and there is a clear distinction between a medication cart and one that is focused on supporting a surgical room.

Assessing your needs and the environment where you will be using the medication cart should help you to choose the right one.

Consider the battery system

You don’t want to interrupt the flow of medical supplies because the cart battery has run down and needs recharging.

If you are going to be putting the cart through its paces and it can’t afford any potential downtime you might want to look for a system where you can swap batteries over without having to cut power to the onboard computer.

Think about the structure of your medication cart

It is highly relevant to consider that the medication cart you choose will be pushed around by staff members for chunks of the day and if the cart is heavy and not very maneuverable it will soon have a negative impact.

One option might be to consider an aluminum medication cart, which is lightweight, and ask about the design of the cart to verify that it performs well whether it is going backward, forward, or sideways.

Good security

Medications have a value and can be dangerous in the wrong hands which is why you need to think carefully about cart security.

Check that the medication cart you are considering has all the right locking features and security protocols in place that only allow access to authorized personnel.

You will probably have a choice of using an access code or a proximity card to open the drawers, with proximity cards often the preferred option in busy facilities.

These are some of the important considerations that you need to run through when evaluating the suitability of a medication cart and it pays to get your choice right when you consider how often you will be using this important piece of medical equipment.