Kadlec Regional Medical Center Puts Computer Carts Through Head-to-Head Testing

Carts provided bedside access to help deploy an electronic medical record system

Mobile computer carts aren’t commodities. Their differences, whether minor or major, affect caregivers’ abilities to care for patients. So, when Kadlec Regional Medical Center in Richland, WA implemented its electronic medical record (EMR) system, it put multiple carts through their paces in everyday use. The EMR system replaced a system in which the physicians’ notes were hand-written on paper charts and observations recorded by a voice recorder for later transcription by medical records personnel.

THE CHALLENGE

Joey Willis, Kadlec’s mobility support and procurement analyst, and her team worked with the hospital’s IT department to analyze computing needs and options. “We decided we needed a PC in every room,” recalls Dave Roach, Kadlec’s VP of IT and CIO. That would allow caregivers to make notes during examinations, without the legibility issues of handwriting, thus improving accuracy. When compared to the option of having shared computer stations in hallways, having a computer cart in each room also enhanced privacy and overall usability by clinicians assigned to the patient. The hospital wanted the mobility carts offered and the always-present computing capabilities of wall-mounted computing stations. The solution was an unpowered computer cart with components that plug into the wall.

“Standardization was important to us,” Roach says. “We wanted each of the 230 carts to have the same look and feel, with the same PCs, monitors and bar code scanners, no matter where it was located throughout the hospital.” The cart standardization effort enabled components to be configured identically on each cart to help the clinical staff be more satisfied and more productive. Therefore, the hospital replaced all of its mobile carts as well as all of the PCs that previously were mounted on shelves in patient rooms.

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