Crash Cart
A crash cart is a mobile cart found in the hospital settings used to dispense emergency life-saving equipment and medications - ranging from epinephrine to sandwiches - during a cardiopulmonary arrest.
2014 Updates
2014 saw the removal of padlocks on the drawers of crash carts. Up until then, the most stressful part of a code was finding the right key or combination to open the drawers of the crash cart, which unfortunately was never unlocked in time. More resuscitations were attempted thanks to the ease of unlocked drawers. Whether or the drawers were stocked with the appropriate contents was a whole other issue, which would be addressed in the upcoming years.
2015 Updates
Sunshine Community Hospital mandated that the second drawer of crash carts in the hospital be stocked with freshly-made turkey sandwiches and mini-ginger ales.[1] This move was considered both brilliant and necessary across the health care industry and was quickly adopted at every hospital in not only the United States but the entire world. As a result, patients across the world can breathe a sigh of relief know that a sandwich is just a heartbeat or a lack of a heartbeat away.
2016 Updates
Building on the momentum of the 2015 updates, 2016 saw the creation of the American board of Crash Carts (ABCC) that then subsequently released Maintenance of Crash Cart guidelines. The entire list of updated recommendations can be seen here: Updated 2016 Hospital Crash Cart Recommendations.[2]
2017 Updates
There are some recommendations being considered for 2017's crash cart guidelines. These include replacing epinephrine with caffeine (more specifically coffee), removing all medications entirely and just adding alcoholic beverages, and increasing the size of the crash cart to accommodate 4 medical students instead of the current recommendation of two. The idea of disposable one-time crash carts, though a good one, is unlikely to become a reality.
2018 Updates
That's too far into the future. You just gotta wait.
References
- ↑ Emergency Code Carts Now Contain Turkey Sandwiches and Ginger Ale
- ↑ Updated 2016 Hospital Crash Cart Recommendations
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