Waterloo Healthcare Newsletter – December 2023

As the year draws to a close, we at Waterloo Healthcare want to take a moment to express our heartfelt gratitude to each and every one of our valued customers. Your unwavering support and trust in our products and services have been the cornerstone of our success throughout 2023.

In a year marked by challenges and triumphs, your loyalty has been a guiding light, motivating us to continually improve and innovate. Your feedback has been invaluable, driving us to exceed expectations and deliver the best medical procedure carts in the industry. We would like to thank you for this motivation and the opportunity to make innovations!

As we approach the holiday season, we extend our warmest wishes to you and your loved ones. May this time be filled with joy, laughter, and cherished moments. It’s a time to reflect on the year gone by and to look forward with hope and positivity for the year ahead.

We remain committed to serving you with excellence and to continuously enhancing our offerings to better meet your needs. Your support has been instrumental in our journey, and for that, we are immensely grateful.

Thank you for choosing Waterloo Healthcare, and we wish you a holiday season filled with peace, happiness, and joy. Here’s to a wonderful and prosperous year ahead. Happy Holidays!

The Invaluable Role of Bedside (Nurse Server) Carts in Patient Rooms: Enhancing Care Delivery in Hospitals

In the complex and demanding landscape of healthcare, every element that enhances patient care and aids healthcare professionals in their duties is invaluable. Bedside carts (Often referred to as Nurse server carts) have emerged as an essential tool in hospitals, significantly contributing to the efficiency and quality of care within patient rooms. These mobile units serve as a pivotal resource, enabling nurses to streamline their tasks and provide more comprehensive, timely, and patient-centered care.

Enhanced Accessibility and Organization

One of the primary advantages of bedside carts is the ease of access to essential medical supplies and equipment. Equipped with compartments, drawers, and shelves, these carts store a wide array of items crucial for patient care. From medications and wound care supplies to diagnostic tools and documentation materials, everything is strategically organized and readily accessible. This setup minimizes the need for nurses to leave the patient’s room frequently, ensuring they remain within close proximity to attend to the patient’s needs promptly.

Improved Efficiency and Time Management

Bedside carts play a pivotal role in optimizing time management for healthcare professionals. With vital supplies at arm’s reach, nurses spend less time fetching items from central supply areas, allowing them to focus more on direct patient care. The time saved can be redirected towards spending quality moments with patients, conducting assessments, and offering emotional support, ultimately enhancing the overall patient experience.

Facilitating Point-of-Care Services

The ability to conduct point-of-care services is an essential aspect of modern healthcare. Bedside carts empower nurses to perform various procedures, administer medications, and conduct assessments at the patient’s bedside. This proximity and convenience not only increase the efficiency of care but also foster a more personal and compassionate connection between the nurse and the patient.

Adaptability and Customization

These carts are adaptable and can be customized to fit the specific needs of various departments or patient conditions. They can be configured to cater to specialized care, such as for pediatric patients or those requiring isolation protocols.

Through use of shorter casters and custom bumper configurations, bedside carts can be configured to fit under existing countertops in a patient room. This maximizes space utilization and can make bedside carts a possibility in smaller patient rooms.

Bedside carts can also be configured with electronic locks that offer the added security benefit of automatically relocking after a predetermined period of time. This helps keep cart contents secure and allows staff to focus on the patient as opposed to remembering to lock the cart when they are finished.

All this flexibility ensures that the right tools and resources are always available, tailored to the unique requirements of each patient.

Enhancing Infection Control Measures

In the wake of heightened emphasis on infection control, Bedside carts are designed to adhere to strict cleanliness standards. They can be easily cleaned and disinfected, thus contributing to a safer and more hygienic environment for both patients and healthcare providers.

Promoting Patient Satisfaction and Comfort

The presence of bedside carts also contributes to patient satisfaction. By minimizing disruptions caused by constant entry and exit from the room, patients can enjoy a more peaceful and restful environment. Furthermore, the convenience of having necessary items close at hand allows for quicker response times to patient requests, significantly improving overall satisfaction.
In conclusion, Bedside carts are a fundamental component in modern healthcare delivery, particularly within hospital settings. They are not just mobile storage units but rather indispensable tools that optimize efficiency, enhance patient care, and contribute significantly to the overall patient experience. Their role in enabling nurses to focus more on direct patient care and fostering a conducive healing environment cannot be overstated, making them a critical asset in the quest to deliver high-quality healthcare services.

It’s the time of year for generosity! Bergmann Group, the parent company of Waterloo Healthcare, contributed 100,000 meals this year to support the Feed My Starving Children organization.

Over the past couple of years, Waterloo has donated emergency carts, airway carts, isolation carts, and accessories to Mercy Ships valued at over $25K! We are proud to be able to give back to a great cause!

From Open to Secure: The Need for a More Secure Phlebotomy Cart Solution

Phlebotomy procedure carts often contain essential equipment and supplies necessary for blood collection and related medical procedures. Implementing locking mechanisms on these carts has recently become more popular for hospitals and clinics due to several crucial reasons:

1. Security and Patient Privacy:

• Protection of Sensitive Information: Locking carts prevent unauthorized access to patient information, specimens, or personal belongings stored within the cart.
• Compliance with Privacy Laws: Maintaining patient confidentiality and adhering to HIPAA regulations require securing patient-related materials and records.

2. Safety of Medical Equipment and Supplies:

• Preventing Theft or Misuse: Valuable medical equipment (such as blood collection tubes, needles, or diagnostic tools) can be safeguarded against theft or unauthorized use.
• Ensuring Availability: Locking mechanisms ensure that essential supplies remain intact and available when needed for medical procedures.

3. Controlled Access to Hazardous Materials:

• Safety Measures: Certain medical supplies or specimens may pose risks if handled without proper training. Locking mechanisms limit access to potentially hazardous materials, minimizing accidents or mishandling.
• Control Over Controlled Substances: Ensure restricted access to substances that require strict control, such as medications or substances used in specific medical tests.

4. Preventing Tampering or Contamination:

• Maintaining Integrity of Specimens: Locked carts prevent tampering with collected specimens, preserving their integrity and preventing contamination.
• Protecting Sterile Items: Certain items (like sterile equipment or blood collection tubes) need to remain uncontaminated until used for medical procedures.

5. Compliance with Safety Standards:

• Meeting Regulatory Requirements: Locking mechanisms may be a requirement or a best practice outlined by regulatory bodies or healthcare facility policies to ensure safety, security, and compliance.

6. Control Over Access:

• Restricted Access: Limiting access to authorized personnel or trained individuals helps ensure that only qualified individuals handle medical equipment and patient-related materials.
• Accountability and Traceability: Having a controlled access system allows tracking and accountability to know who accessed the cart and when, which is essential for auditing purposes.

7. Minimizing Risks in High-Traffic Areas:

• Hospitals or Clinical Settings: In busy healthcare environments, securing carts reduces the risk of theft, loss, or accidental misplacement of critical supplies.

Conclusion:

Implementing locking mechanisms on phlebotomy procedure carts serves to protect patient information, ensure the availability and integrity of medical supplies, comply with regulations, maintain safety, and control access to sensitive materials. It’s an essential measure to safeguard both patients and healthcare providers in medical settings. Waterloo has several different available options for locking phlebotomy carts to best serve our customers’ needs. Find our available options at https://www.waterloohealthcare.com/product-categories.

Make Sure Your Employees Feel Appreciated During the Holidays

The holidays present a challenging time, and many of us are trying to maintain some sense of normalcy even though the pressures of the season are upon us. Your team members may be worried about themselves or a family member getting sick, and how they will cope if that happens. Now is the perfect time to let them know how much you appreciate their contributions, and below are some small but effective ways to do so.

Recognize a Job Well Done

The purpose of one of the most meaningful and motivating verbal or written conversations you can initiate is to say ‘thank you’ to your team members.

Don Draper in Mad Men had a different approach. When confronted by a highly effective and talented employee about never saying thank you, his reply was a very loud and angry “That’s what the money is for!” As you can imagine, this didn’t go over well with his hard-working protege, who left the advertising firm shortly thereafter. While this is a fictional portrayal from a TV show, it clearly illustrates a real-world desire to feel gratitude for working diligently. It is not only nice to hear, but it may also be hoped for. There is no downside to sharing this impactful sentiment.

Everybody Needs to Eat

When a team is working together in an office, the company having food catered is always a crowd-pleasing surprise. Even a few years after the pandemic, more people are working remotely and juggling home and career demands during the same hours, which means now is the perfect time to treat team members to a meal or snack delivered right to their houses. Something as easy and cost-effective as sending over a pizza for dinner means the employee doesn’t have to worry about making dinner that night, taking energy from stress and making it available to put toward work. For a fancier alternative that will require more individualized attention, consider utilizing apps that deliver servings of restaurant food, or home-delivered meal services for even more benefits to your team members.

Allowance for Remote Working Environments

It’s happened to every one of us – you sit down to work on a project at home, and either your child is suddenly hungry, your dog needs to go out, or something else unexpected happens in the household that requires immediate attention. Whenever possible, flexible scheduling should be a part of your business response to changes in the past few years. For example, if a hard deadline needs to be met, as long as doing so would not cause the work to suffer, and any necessary collaboration can continue, allowing tasks to be completed when it is most convenient for your remote workers is a way to show trust, understanding, and support. Non-business hours might work better on some days for certain people – such as completing tasks after the kids are put to bed, or before the rest of the house wakes up – and a company being less stringent about when work needs to be in progress would be a great help.

Let Them Choose

Whether you believe “cash is king” or gift cards / certificates are the ultimate in convenience, giving team members a thoughtful surprise that they can customize to fit their preferences is always a great choice. Both are technically financial incentives, and usually done once a year for holidays, performance bonuses, or special events like birthdays or start date anniversaries. In this time of uncertainty, a little monetary boost can go a long way, not only for your staff. Many small businesses are struggling due to the continued mandatory closures intended to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus, and purchasing a gift card or certificate from them now adds resources to their coffers, which helps keep these economy drivers afloat until they can reopen to customers again. This idea to show appreciation is definitely a win-win for everyone!

Develop Team Members to Foster Community

It cannot be overstated how important self-leadership, interdependence, and skills-based knowledge are, especially at this challenging time, when the team is more separated due to social distancing and remotely working. Encourage confidence, empowerment, trust, and purpose in your employees through giving them project ownership and mentoring sessions over video conferencing. Make time to develop then employ skill-based knowledge, and you will see improvements in not only your team’s ability to work together, but in every link of the chain as well. The spirit of working together as a cohesive unit even when not together creates opportunities for individual and team growth and development.

Everyone Loves to See Their Name

One easy-to-implement way to show your appreciation involves something your company is probably doing a few times a week anyway – post on social media. When a new employee joins the team, you could introduce them on your social media channels. A nice way to jazz up the post and make it more engaging, as well as provide insight into whom your customers and vendors are working with, is to include a fun or interesting fact about the team member. Another reason to create a post centered around your employees is to celebrate milestones, such as birthdays and company-related anniversaries. When someone started with the company, was promoted, or participated in supporting a non-profit or other community-improving organization all demonstrate perfect opportunities to highlight an employee on your social platforms. In these posts, you could also include a photo (perhaps a headshot or the employee in the middle of a project). Be sure to write about your gratitude and appreciation for all their efforts, as that is especially nice for them to read. They’ll feel seen and know you value their contributions.

Ask, Listen, and Implement

It’s kind of a long-running joke used in sitcoms and movies, but the truth is that many employees feel like they have no say in their jobs and the higher-ups don’t give a hoot about their opinions. One of the best ways to show you do care is simply asking questions or asking for feedback. This can be done at any time, and the overall subject can really be anything about your organization or the employee experience. Mai Ton, Vice President of Human Resources at White Ops, had the following to say about this practice:

“We distribute a quarterly pulse survey [that] allows them to give us [anonymous] feedback about the company at a macro level. We ask a set of 15 questions around teamwork, leadership, career growth, etc. each quarter to measure movement in any dimension. Then we give them three open text boxes to answer the questions: What are we doing well? What do we need to improve? What else is on your mind? We get our results each month with an average participation rate of about 75 percent and have more than 225 lines of data from the responses to those three open-ended questions. This allows all employees to feel heard and want to contribute to making our company win.”

Whichever options you choose to implement, there are countless opportunities to show your employees you appreciate them, and there are few more appropriate times than a months-long-and-still-going-strong pandemic to do so. Let your team members know!

Waterloo Healthcare is dedicated to providing quality, flexible medical cart solutions that accommodate any clinician’s needs, and our team is always available to help design the cart that’s right for you!