subject: Transport Chair | A Better Medical Transport Chair Is Just What The Doctor Ordered [print this page] A good medical transport chair is something that no hospital or other care facility can really do without. Thus, it is terribly sad that so many facilities are doing just that, most without even being aware of it.
This is because humans can get used to anything and once a design becomes standard, it is often difficult to imagine anything else. We learn to cope with the problems and find work arounds and get on with using a decent product that increasingly doesn't fit client needs.
Find the Best Possible Medical Transport Chair
For example, when wheelchairs become commonplace in hospitals and care facilities, the mere idea of oxygen tanks that were portable by a patient was limited to wild imaginings. Infusion pumps didn't exist and IV stands were just something that had to be pushed alongside regardless.
So, it took a very long time to notice that medical transport chair models were not equipped to handily accommodate these excellent innovations in patient care. Fortunately, it didn't take quite as long to come up with a new design that could easily be accessorized with attachments for transporting these items, along with the patient. Attachments that can be added and removed easily, thus creating a customized chair without customization expenses.
Patient Safety Is Paramount When Considering Wheelchairs
Due to a design that is geared toward the independent movement of individual, as well as one that was put into place when the average person was somewhat shorter than today, most wheelchairs are prone to two other problems. The first is that not only can patients who are not in the right physical condition or who are sufficiently medicated to have impaired judgment, can take off on their own.
Staff, of course tries to keep an eye on people, but, especially with increasing budget constraints, no one can be everywhere. This leads to increased patient and liability risk. Unless the hospital has purchased a medical transport chair designed so that an attendant can only push it with brakes that lock automatically once the ergonomically designed handle is released.
The added benefit here is that not only is the patient much safer and secure - especially when this chair can also be accessorized with adult or pediatric seatbelts - saving on litigation and other exciting expenses, but theft is also greatly reduced. Either one of these more than offsets the short-term cost of introducing a new model or the long-term savings that really add up.
The ergonomically designed handle not only incorporates autolocking brakes, but has several features that ease the strain on the attendant. Again, standard chairs are - and should be - made with the occupant in mind. This is why a brand-new design for institutional use has been so needed for so long.
In hospitals and other care facilities, while the client is still paramount, if the medical transport chair is easier for the attendant to maneuver, it will lead to a greater efficiency of work, reduced sick days and probably a happier employee, which usually makes for happier clientele. The cost benefits on this are the purview of the accountants, but the intangibles are there for everyone to see.
