Essay Example: Crash Cart Design, Contents, and Arrangements

The design of a crash cart includes a set of trays, drawers and shelves on wheels that is used in hospitals for the purpose of transportation. The crash cart is essential in the dispensing of emergency medication and equipment at site of surgical emergency. The instruments that the cart carries include those for cardiopulmonary resuscitation and other medical supplies. The cart also functions as a support litter for the patient.

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The cart is used as a trolley to store lifesaving equipment as well as drugs in the emergency rooms of patients, the intensive care units and clinics. The characteristics of the trolley include being easily movable and readily accessible from all sides of the cart. The design helps in quick viewing and removal of equipment and appropriate drugs when they are needed. The contents vary according to hospitals but a typical crash cart contains tools and drugs needed for the individual in CT scan (Jacquet et al., 2018). These include monitor, suction devices, bag valve masks, first line drugs, pediatric equipment, life support drugs and other equipment as per the choice of the facility.

The arrangement of the crash cart is such that the top has disposable globes, sharps containers, defibrillators and pads. The first drawer contains the ECG gel and electrodes. The second drawer is the air management drawer and has airways, blades, forceps, syringes, disposable gloves and masks. The third drawer has the venipuncture tubes and equipment such as disposable syringes, needs, equipment to monitor pressure, cotton swabs, sterile gauze and dressing materials.

Importance of crash cart in the radiology department

The crash cart plays a significant role in the radiology department especially because there is need for familiarity with the location of emergency equipment that helps in faster response (Jacquet et al., 2018). The fact that the car has ready availability of emergency equipment and drugs helps in reducing the amount of time required to respond to medical crises.

Some medical emergencies in the radiology department include times when there is a need to shift the patient immediately. In that case, it is needed that the medical practitioner also shifts certain medical instruments for which the emergency trolley need to be used. This way, the trolley is necessary for providing the staff with ease in transferring huge instruments required for the radiology operations.

The crash cart helps to enhance the team’s response to patients that have emergency medical situations. They do so by providing immediate access to supplies and medication. The crash cart is also essential in facilitating coordination of the emergency equipment. Proper mastery of the drawers in terms of the equipment and where they are placed helps to make the radiology process even faster. This way, the radiology process is made quicker by a radiologist who is aware of the procedures and has mastered where the equipment are placed.

The cart thus facilitates staff familiarity with the equipment making them capable of handling procedures faster. Medical practitioners get to know that the crash cart is their responsibility and they need to ensure that it is properly stocked and that materials are readily available (Jacquet et al., 2018). Generally, there is valuable time saved for the radiology processes for both the patient and the medical practitioner when there is the use of a crash cart. The trolley is required to make work easier for the radiology processes and save more lives.

Classification of crash cart emergency medications and their uses

Medication Use

Barium Sulfate The use of the medication is to coat the esophagus, stomach or intestines with a material that the body cannot absorb. This way, the damaged areas can be seen clearly by the x-ray examination (Cotteral et al., 2019). The patient takes the drugs one or more times before the CT scan. The drugs could either be a powder to be mixed with water, a suspension, a paste or a tablet. The intake of the medication is as per the prescription of the medical staff.

N-acetyl cysteine It is an inexpensive drugs that is used for prevention of serious damage to the kidney that is caused by iodine-containing dyes that is used by the doctors to enhance the quality of scanning. For patients that have vulnerable kidneys, especially the older people and those that have diabetes or heart failure, they are the group that is at a high risk of contrast agents and they will gain more by taking the drug. The drug is essential for preventing contrast-induced nephropathy, which refers to kidney damage caused by contrast agents.

Oral contrast agents Scans for the pelvis and the abdomen require the patient to have an intake of oral contrast agents that contain dilute barium. The need for the contrast agent is to help the radiologists identify the gastrointestinal tract such as the stomach, small and large bowel. This way, the radiologist can detect abnormalities in these organs and the agent also helps to separate the structures from the others within the abdomen.

References

Cotteral, J., Kekkonen, K., & Fidler, R. L. (2019). Rapid Cycle Deliberate Practice Improves Critical Item Retrieval From Crash Cart. Circulation, 140(Suppl_2), A450-A450.

Jacquet, G. A., Hamade, B., Diab, K. A., Sawaya, R., Dagher, G. A., Hitti, E., & Bayram, J. D. (2018). The Emergency Department Crash Cart: A systematic review and suggested contents. World journal of emergency medicine, 9(2), 93.