Friday, August 24, 2007

ecmo carts in hospitals


In our hospital our ECMO nurses (average age 50's) have requested Ergo assistances re: pushing the ECMO carts. The ECMO cart weighs about 425# and is pushed long distances between buildings/units in our system. They have many components and vision is also blocked during transport of the cart. I am interested in any ergo redesigns of this cart or processes, etc that have been effective in reducing the weight and/or improving vision while handling these carts. Purchasing addtional carts is not an option at this time.

thanks

Bridget

2 comments:

Carla Berscheit, OT said...

You may have considered this already, but replacing the existing wheels with larger ones would decrease the push/pull force and may make it easier when turning corners. I am not familiar with this cart, but I will keep thinking. Carla

Ethan Fricklas said...

Any idea what amount of push/pull force is required to move these carts? Larger casters should certainly help reduce the force. Making sure the wheels are regularly inspected and properly maintained by facilities personnel is also a good idea.

Another, more expensive option, would be a cart mover. Most of these are big and rugged, but there is one company I have seen which makes a miniature mover. You can watch a video of it on their website at:
http://www.appletonmfg.com/graphics/cartmover.mov

I believe the price is around $5k.

-Ethan