College of Engineering Poster Presentations
Document Type
Student Presentation
Presentation Date
4-16-2012
Faculty Sponsor
Michelle Sabick
Abstract
For the 2011/2012 school year at Boise State University, the health science department has requested that a Mechanical Engineering senior design project be focused around the redesign of a medical crash cart. A crash cart, more commonly known as a code cart, is a set of trays, drawers, and shelves on wheels used in hospital emergency rooms for the transportation and dispensing of emergency supplies and equipment for use in cardiac emergencies. The current crash cart design is top heavy, unstable, inefficient, unorganized, and unsafe. In an attempt to increase functionality, efficiency, and safety, a new design is being developed by our senior design team. Research was conducted to determine the user requirements, objectives, and specifications for a new design. Our team attended a live simulation and interviewed doctors, nurses, and respiratory therapists that have experience operating crash carts. The primary innovative feature of our design is that the defibrillator with cardiac monitor and the oxygen tank are located on a separable mobile stand. The main cart and the separable stand are locked together by using the cardiac board and a series of aluminum J-channels. It is our belief that this design will help to facilitate the many simultaneous activities occurring during a code event so that the various specialists can better work around each other without interference. Our team is prototyping this design which will be tested for transportability and stability and presented for demonstration.