Abstract
A two-phase study of crash cart medications in the Emergency Department (ED) is reported. The purpose of the phased study was to determine a standardized layout for emergency medications that would promote safety and efficiency during a code blue event. During Phase I, a comprehensive list of ED medications and crash cart configurations was compiled and compared across three acute care hospitals. Three emergency departments were consulted to catalogue medications and to understand the workflow processes surrounding the crash cart such as medication stocking and inventory control. A number of similarities and differences were found for drug usage and crash cart drug drawer layout across hospitals. Phase II examined how ED nurses accessed and used medications from the crash cart. ED nurses individually designed the primary crash cart drawer by placing pictures of each medication into a ‘jigsaw puzzle’ while thinking aloud. Alphabetization of medications and grouping by ABC (airway, breathing and circulation) emerged as primary access strategies proposed by ED nurses. Implications for these and other design insights are discussed with respect to crash cart safety and efficiency.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.