Hospitals’ Challenges With Industrial Casters

The increasing healthcare costs and the changing federal regulations force hospitals to become more flexible and adaptable. Hospital casters must be able to respond to these changes without disruption to clinical workflow. 

When you use hospital casters in your hospital, you have to consider several factors. You will need to adjust your messages to the level of health literacy of your audience and deal with privacy concerns. Hospitals face many challenges, including staffing, cost, and health care. The challenges hospital casters face include the need for large quantities of hospital equipment to be moved across multiple floors and long distances. Choosing suitable casters requires careful consideration of performance and failure rates. Quality casters will help ensure patient safety, lower floor maintenance costs, and improve HCAHPS scores.

Read on to learn more about hospital casters and the challenges you’ll face in the healthcare industry. By the time you’re done reading, you’ll have a better idea of why hospital casters are so important. Listed below are some of the challenges you’ll face.

Staffing

Although the industrial caster has several applications, they can all be boiled down to just one thing: moving objects. Even in hospitals, industrial wheels are used. Yet, hospitals are experiencing a shortage of casters, making it challenging to find qualified applicants. While government funding and policy support have been essential for many hospitals to weather the early financial crisis, staffing challenges now strain hospitals’ fragile financial situation. Hospitals are urging Congress to prioritize funding and policy changes to address staffing issues.

Staffing challenges have increased as hospitals have stepped up their services for communities impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Hospital volumes have recovered to pre-pandemic levels, but the increased demand for services has outpaced the number of casters. This has resulted in a severe staffing shortage, and hospitals have been forced to invest significantly in hiring additional staff.

Patient Safety

Commodity casters are not maintenance-free and require regular greasing to prevent seizing. Besides, some of these types have design flaws, allowing debris to accumulate in the upper raceways and bearings, which can damage the caster. Some models also have rubber treads that mark floors and need regular mopping.

One of the biggest complaints made by patients in hospitals is noise. According to the annual Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems survey, loud hospital casters are the number one noise source. 

Costs

Hospitals are equipped with many pieces of equipments that need to be transported around. These items are often on casters. Many of these items are expensive, and replacement parts for them are often only available from the manufacturer. This means that the prices for hospital casters are incredibly high. This can be very problematic, especially if you need to replace casters frequently.

The researchers used computerized qualitative data analysis software to identify cost categories and factors. These were fed to participating hospitals, the Independent Project Steering Committee, and NHS Connecting for Health. They were also able to make comparisons between hospitals that had different starting points. This made it easier for them to narrow down the cost categories and develop explanations for each.