Category: Hospital Material Movement

Addressing Staffing Issues with an Electric Cart Pusher

There are nursing homes all over the country that are plagued with staffing issues.  In many otherwise fine institutions these issues can cause delay in some of the most integral and necessary daily operations.  Hiring additional full time staff members to help with cleaning and maintenance may not be in the annual budget, but a small investment in the right equipment could make a big difference.

A piece of equipment like the cart pusher from DJ Products can instantly increase the efficiency of the staff members in a nursing home or hospital environment.  The cart pusher is small and easy to maneuver but has enough power to easily handle carts that weigh several thousand pounds.

The cart pusher from DJ Products makes for fast and easy maneuvering of fully loaded food or linen carts, carts loaded with supplies and heavy pieces of medical equipment.   The cart pusher also works well on a variety of surfaces which makes it an ideal piece of equipment for facilities that have a mix of carpet, tile, concrete and other flooring.   Jobs that used to require two or more staff members to complete can be performed quickly and safely with an electric cart pusher.

Attempting to move fully loaded carts or heavy equipment manually can result in serious injuries to valuable employees.  Work related injuries can not only add additional to the burden of an already overworked staff, they can cost the facility a considerable amount of money in expensive workers’ compensation claims.  Adding a piece of equipment like an electric cart pusher dramatically decreases the risk of musculoskeletal injuries brought on by manually pulling or pushing heavy carts.  A piece of equipment like an electric cart pusher creates a safer and more efficient environment and takes some of the additional strain off of overworked nursing home employees.

Nursing Home Volunteers Can Use Material Handling Solutions

There are plenty of uses for motorized cart pushers and industrial tuggers in nursing homes. Workers can use them to deliver patient medications and meals. Motorized laundry carts can be used to retrieve dirty laundry and then deliver clean laundry. Overall, material handling solutions can make it easier for nursing home workers to complete their tasks efficiently while avoiding unnecessary strain so they can concentrate on patients.

So we know that motorized carts can be used to deliver the things that nursing home residents need…but what about flowers?

NewsWorks reported about a New Jersey woman who has made it her mission to see to it that folks in the nursing home get a little cheer in their day via day-old grocery story bouquets. She picks up the day old bouquets and then transports them to several nursing homes, spending nearly three hours a day making her deliveries. The article says that Patricia Gallagher gets enough of these bouquets that would otherwise be tossed away to fill up a shopping cart…what it does not say is how she transports the bouquets from her car into and around the various nursing homes that she visits.

So yes, even nursing home volunteers can make use of material handling solutions. Instead of having to carry items in or relying on staff members to help (and taking them away from their duties), having a motorized cart available for volunteers and families who are distributing gifts or setting up donations would be a great idea.

Call 1-800-686-2651 to speak with one of our Sales Engineers to learn more about our products.

Specialized Carts Designed for Hospital Use

Any nurse, therapist, aide or worker will tell you that working in hospitals, nursing homes and similar settings is back-breaking work. Workers are on their feet all day long and constantly on the move. There’s a lot of bending, stretching, reaching, pushing and pulling involved — all activities that can strain and stress muscles, tendons, ligaments and joints and lead to potentially debilitating musculoskeletal injuries.

Most hospital workers, who typically work 12-hour shifts, will tell you that workloads are already heavy. No one appreciates the extra burden imposed when a fellow worker calls in sick with a strained back. Musculoskeletal injuries aren’t a quick 24-hour fix. They entail days to weeks and sometimes even months of treatment and physical therapy. Returning workers must often be assigned to light duty jobs or face re-injury if they attempt their former activities. The lost man-hours, reassignment and rescheduling needs can create significant problems, both for administrators and fellow workers. The high costs of medical treatment, insurance and workers’ compensation make the elimination of musculoskeletal injury risk a high priority for hospitals, nursing homes and similar facilities.

The heavy pedestrian traffic, narrow corridors and constrained spaces typical of hospital settings present a unique challenge in designing ergonomic equipment to take the physical burden off medical workers. That’s why so many tasks in these settings are still performed manually, despite the risk of injury. To answer the unique needs of hospital settings, DJ Products has created a specially designed line of motorized cart pushers. We have produced a line of small, extremely maneuverable caddies that are designed to carry lighter loads. The quick and easy maneuverability of these carts makes them ideal for use in confined spaces and in areas with high pedestrian traffic.

  • The CartCaddyLite is the smallest, most maneuverable tug available on the market today. This battery-powered electric tug can push or pull up to 1,000 pounds and is versatile enough to handle a variety of cart types, including dollies, hand trucks, laundry carts, hospital carts, maintenance carts and hospital beds. Click here for CartCaddyLite specifications and a video demonstration of this versatile cart puller/pusher.
  • The CartCaddyShorty has enough power to handle carts and equipment that weigh 3,000 to 20,000 pounds. This battery-powered electric tug is a powerful workhorse that can transport heavy equipment, food carts, laundry bins, x-ray machines, respiratory equipment, dialysis equipment, oxygen canisters, wheelchairs, IV poles, even bags of garbage. Click here for CartCaddyShorty specifications.

For more information on these and other DJ Products’ carts, tugs and caddies designed for the hospital industry, visit the DJ Products website.

Lightening the Load on Employees with an Electric Tugger

Hospital and nursing home employees have some very difficult duties to perform on a daily basis.  Linen, laundry and food carts are very easy to push for a single person when they are empty, but start piling on trays full of food or dozens and dozens of sets of bedding and soiled clothing and these carts and get pretty heavy.  A fully loaded cart could easily top out at around a thousand pounds, and for a lone employee that can be quite a bit of weight to bear.The main problem for making these jobs easier lies in the fact that many hospitals, rehab centers and nursing homes have small rooms, narrow hallways and tight quarters in which to operate in general – so trying to move a big and bulky piece of machinery to help you with your duties would be all but impossible.Thankfully, the Electric Tugger from DJ Products is designed specifically for operation in the narrowest of hallways and tightest of quarters so employees can handle these carts at their heaviest without the fear of strain.  The Electric Tugger is also ergonomically designed to keep overuse injuries at a minimum and to cut down on potential sick days and workman’s compensation claims.An Electric Tugger can also dramatically increase the speed at which hospital and nursing home employees perform these duties.  Patients and residents can receive their food and have their rooms cleaned faster and this means that rooms and hallways will be clear of clutter for more of the day.  Clear rooms and hallways are a necessity in these types of facilities to ensure that emergency personnel have the room to operate if necessary.An Electric Tugger cuts down on the chance of over exertion and lets any employee move fully loaded carts quickly, easily and helps to keep residents safe by allowing the staff to keep rooms and hallways clear.  These jobs have been done without the help of equipment for years, but now that there is an Electric Tugger that can help get the job done more safely and efficiently, more and more facilities are attacking these necessary duties the smart way rather than the hard way.

Manufacturing Rebound Glimmers on the Horizon

With the dawn of a new political era in Washington, U.S. industry experts are cautiously predicting that manufacturing’s darkest days are over and that a rebound can be expected within the next six months. Analysts seem to agree that the Institute for Supply Management Index (ISM) finally bottomed out and will now begin to grow.

“Much depends on some proposed government actions and the reaction of the financial community,” Chris Kuehl, an economic analyst for the Fabricators and Manufacturers Association, told writer Joe Cogliano in the January 6, 2009 edition of Manufacturing & Technology eJournal, “but assuming that the credit crisis continues to diminish there will be some recovery in certain sectors.”

In anticipation of President Obama’s promised economic initiatives to create jobs, rebuild infrastructure and move to alternative fuels, Kuehl expects businesses that supply construction material and machinery and those in energy development to lead the recovery. He said that media saturation about the dire straights of the automotive and construction industries has obscured any good news about the state of U.S. manufacturing. He noted that medical manufacturing has actually grown during the recession and that the aerospace industry has held firm. 

A double digit production decline in the 4th quarter of 2008 is expected to be manufacturing’s low point. The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) predicts a continued but gradually decreasing decline across most industry sectors for the first three quarters of 2009 before the advent of slowly rising numbers. NAM expects the final months of 2009 to bring a 1.4% increase in manufacturing rates.

Experts agree that while economic downturns take a toll on industry, they also serve to cull out weak, mismanaged and antiquated companies. Those that survive are stronger, more efficient, more resource conscious and more productive. On a larger scale, benefits of the economic crisis include a new era of better risk and credit management by both lenders and borrowers, new avenues of industrial growth, and deeper understanding and a necessary re-evaluation of global trading relationships and their impact on U.S. economy.

“The challenge for all of us is to determine if this is a ‘disaster’ or an ‘opportunity,'” Norbert Ore, Chair of the Institute for Supply Management’s Manufacturing Business Survey Committee told Manufacturing & Technology eJournal. “If we choose disaster, we will be paralyzed during a period of great change, and we will assume that there is little hope of prosperity for ourselves and our organizations. If we choose opportunity, we can view this as the time to face challenges head on and find more productive ways to create value for ourselves and society.”