5 Simple Rules for Choosing Medical Carts

SUCCESS STORY

Halifax Health In a blind test, Halifax Health nurses choose Jaco carts – to IT’s delight, and everyone’s benefit

5 Simple Rules for Choosing Medical Carts Founded in 1928, Halifax Health is a 680-bed, not-for-profit hospital system serving the Daytona Beach, Florida area.

“We’re what’s known in Florida as a ‘safety-net’ hospital,” explained Tom Stafford, Vice President and CIO at Halifax Health. “We care for everyone who walks through our door, no matter what his or her station in life. And we don’t just do triage and send them on their way.

We care for them until they can walk out on their own.”

The hospital offers some unique services from its Daytona Beach and Port Orange campuses, including a level 2 trauma center, PICU and NICU units, a pediatric center, and the area’s only comprehensive center for child and adolescent psychiatric services. In every area of the hospital, Halifax nurses depend on medical carts for care delivery.

“Every nurse on shift has a cart,” said Stafford. “Our nurses take carts directly into patient rooms for documentation and bedside medication verification. We have carts outfitted for respiratory care. We have carts in our ER equipped with electronic signature pads for registration, so we can register patients at the bedside instead of making them wait outside. Carts are essential to what our nurses do.”

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A solid first impression A little more than four years ago, Halifax Health needed to replace some of the aging medical carts in its fleet. Stafford hosted a cart vendor fair, during which he got his first look at a Jaco cart, the Jaco UltraLite 500. Right from the start, Jaco’s aluminum construction and simple, no-nonsense design appealed to Stafford and his IT team.

“My background is in aerospace and mechanical engineering,“ said Stafford. “I was a metal bender for years. So I understood right away how solidly Jaco builds their carts. And we could all tell just by looking at them – the metal construction, the smooth antimicrobial finish, the mechanical features without a lot of unnecessary electronic bells and whistles – we knew the Jaco carts weren’t going to break.”

by looking at

Stafford was also impressed by Jaco’s seven-year warranty. “Obviously Jaco was willing to get behind their product enough to warranty it for that long,” said Stafford. “I can’t remember what the warranties for the other carts were, but nobody else was close to seven years.”

them – the metal

Winning the cart challenge

construction, the

But Stafford wanted the nurses, who would use the carts every shift, to be happy with the carts Halifax Health chose. So he set up a blind trial.

We could tell just

smooth antimicrobial finish, the mechanical features without a lot of unnecessary electronic bells and whistles – we knew the Jaco carts weren’t

“We removed all the branding from all the carts, color-coded them, and arranged them in an atrium area,” said Stafford. “The nurses looked the carts over, rolled them around, adjusted the work surfaces up and down, and checked out all the features.

Then we had them vote for the cart they liked best, using a simple tablet app we created, and we counted the votes.

“I was not surprised,” he added, “when they chose Jaco.”

More than anything else, the nurses liked how easily and smoothly the carts rolled.

“With carts, nurses care about the rolling more than anything else,” said Stafford.

“Imagine you worked 10-12 hours a day, and 80 percent of that time you were pushing a cart around for who knows how many miles. You want that cart to roll easily.”

going to break.

The nurses also appreciated that Jaco’s monitor mount swiveled 180 degrees, which gives the nurses more flexibility to position the monitor for better visibility at the bedside and in the halls. The nurses also found Jaco’s mechanical drawer locks much simpler to use than the electronic keypad locks on other carts.

- Tom Stafford, Vice President and CIO, Halifax Health

Manageable costs, unexpected savings Following the state-required bidding process, Stafford began purchasing the Jaco carts. Today there are 250 Jaco carts in the Halifax Health cart fleet.

“We now have a seven-year purchase cycle, made possible by Jaco’s warranty and the reliability of their carts,” said Stafford. “We’re a non-profit, and there’s no new money in healthcare, so not having to replace carts every two or three years, like we used to, really helps us control costs. It makes life a lot easier for our IT staff, too.”

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The nurses looked the carts over, rolled them around, adjusted the work surfaces up and down, checked out all the features, and voted for the cart they liked best. I was not surprised when they chose Jaco.

– Tom Stafford, Halifax Health

A bonus has been the longer-than-expected life of Jaco’s lithium iron (LiFe) batteries.

“Jaco’s lithium iron batteries are warrantied for three years,” said Stafford, “but we purchased our first Jaco carts more than four years ago and we haven’t had to replace a battery yet. So we’re getting more battery life for our money, and spending less on battery disposal, which involves costly safety precautions.”

Checking the boxes – and rolling on “Ultimately there are five things that matter in a medical cart,” said Stafford. He explained how Jaco delivers on all five: It’s easy to roll – and it stays easy to roll. “Other carts just seem to get heavier and harder to roll over time,” said Stafford, “but I have yet to have a nurse complain about pushing a Jaco cart.” He added that all of Halifax Health’s Jaco carts are equipped with Jaco’s TRAC steering control option, which makes the carts even easier to guide in straight lines and around tight corners.

It’s easy to adjust. “Again, the nurses never complain about Jaco’s worksurface adjustment – it’s smooth and easy.”

The batteries hold their charge. “Jaco’s lithium iron batteries hold their charge quite well, much longer than the sealed lead acid (SLA) batteries that came with other carts.

And as I said earlier, we haven’t had to replace a Jaco battery yet.”

Jaco’s lithium iron batteries are warrantied for three years, but we purchased our first Jaco carts more than four years ago and we haven’t had to replace a battery yet.

- Tom Stafford, Halifax Health

It doesn’t require a lot of service. “The stuff we’ve had to fix has been minimal, and Jaco’s service has been excellent the few times we’ve needed it. I never hear about problems or complaints with the Jaco carts, and that’s a very big deal.”

It always looks good. “Plastic carts look really worn out after a couple of years, tabs break and seams split – they just don’t look right in a medical environment. But our Jaco carts look as white and clean as when we first bought them. It projects a better image for us overall. “ And Halifax Health’s nurses? Stafford is confident that they’d still vote for Jaco, fourplus years later.

“Every time we get a new order of Jaco carts, all the nurses want them,” said Stafford.

“It’s just more validation that Jaco was and still is the right choice for all of us.”

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Franklin, MA 02038 Jacoinc.com 1-800-649-2278

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Simple. Solid. Smart.