Transport units are not to be underestimated in healthcare facilities. From basic utility carts to specialty carts for anesthesia and hospital emergencies, a cart that is durable, reliable and functional can make providing optimal care significantly more efficient.
InterMetro® (Metro®) has been the world’s leading manufacturer and supplier of storage and transport units for healthcare facilities for more than 80 years. With carts, shelving, cabinets, worktables and security storage, Metro offers the latest innovations backed by a reputation of customer satisfaction.
As more and more healthcare facilities plan for and initiate upgrades and renovations, it has become increasingly apparent that in order to maximize patient outcomes, updating storage and transport technology must be a factor considered in renovations.
Parkland and Metro
The Problem
Take the Dallas, Texas-based Parkland Health & Hospital System. Parkland has been serving the Dallas community since 1894. Its new 2.8 million-square-foot, 862-bed facility opened on Aug. 20, 2015 as part of a five-year, $1.3 billion project to provide the people of Dallas County with a long overdue new public health facility.
As is the case at many healthcare facilities, Parkland Hospital planners struggled with the organization of supplies and materials. This prevented the materials management team at Parkland Hospital from keeping the necessary materials readily available for various procedures or applications, including those in the emergency department. Parkland was about to transition to a brand new facility and the clinical coordination team decided they weren’t taking everything with them.
Bad habits, inefficient processes, and unnecessary clutter, including supplies or the carts themselves, had to stay behind. Parkland needed a partner that could help them create the standardization and organization needed for optimal workflow and the best environment possible for caregivers and patients.
The Solution
The clinical coordination and materials management team at Parkland identified Metro as the ideal partner to help them make the most of the new facility. Specifically, they confirmed that the Metro Flexline® cart had the qualities required to satisfy not only the workflow and organization needs, but also the regulations and compliance concerns.
The team at Parkland wanted four priorities from their procedure carts:
- The ability to standardize
- Organizational capacity
- The ability to maintain a calming environment
- Adaptability to Parkland’s needs over time
The Metro Flexline cart was the perfect solution for Parkland’s needs. The team was able to standardize procedure carts for each area of the facility, including the emergency department, trauma rooms and ICU. Each cart then was specified for a certain procedure using a color-coded system.
The drawer configurations on each Flexline cart were set to match the system, making it easy to quickly identify which cart was needed. Each cart was also configured for its specific application. Each area of the facility now has the standardization needed so any caregiver, who comes into the facility at any point, knows exactly what and where to find what they need.
After selecting the Flexline cart, departments identified what materials were needed for each procedure and organized materials by priority level. This information was used to develop a template
for each drawer for each type of procedure cart.
The team at Parkland was moving closer toward the level of organization desired for the new facility with layout templates determined for each department and the corresponding sets of carts. With the adoption of the new program, Parkland found that including caregivers in the template building process had a direct impact on the effectiveness of cart usage cutting down on transport and storage inefficiencies.
Flexline’s polymer construction is lightweight and easy to maneuver creating a softer environmental aesthetic more conducive to patient care than the bulkier aluminum carts.
The Flexline carts are adaptable and can grow and change as the needs of the hospital grow and change. At Parkland Hospital, the Flexline design allows facilities to add features such as tilt out storage bins or glove box holders, without increasing the footprint since the dedicated area for these features has already been planned into the cart.
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In utilizing more than 400 Metro Flexline carts facility-wide, Parkland has achieved its goals. The ability to standardize has made the clinical teams more efficient and flexible by making it easier for new caregivers, or those who work in multiple departments, to get up to speed quickly. Metro has proven to be a long-term partner for Parkland by having the solutions needed no matter the application or department.
CME is proud to partner with Metro and provide the full line of Metro storage and transportation products to our customers. Call 800-338-2372 for more information about Metro products.
About CME: CME Corp is the nation’s premier source for healthcare equipment, turnkey logistics, and biomedical services, representing 2 million+ products from more than 2,000 manufacturers.
With two corporate offices and 35+ service centers, our mission is to help healthcare facilities nationwide reduce the cost of the equipment they purchase, make their equipment specification, delivery, installation, and maintenance processes more efficient, and help them seamlessly launch, renovate and expand on schedule.
