Defibrillators & Crash Carts

A crash cart is a self-contained, mobile unit that is equipped with all the essential life support accessories necessary to respond to an urgent medical emergency within the hospital. It typically contains basic airway equipment, tools for intravenous (IV) access, medications and a defibrillator.

A defibrillator has three basic functions. It enables hospital staff to monitor a patient’s heart rhythm, defibrillate (shock) someone out of a life-threatening arrhythmia or provide a temporary external pacemaker to a patient in crisis.

Our ability to quickly, and efficiently, deliver the critical tools and medication to the site of a medical emergency is what saves lives.

The current defibrillators available to staff at Georgian Bay General Hospital are at the end of life. Replacement parts, software updates and regular maintenance are no longer available, meaning that if one malfunctions, we rely on a biomedical repair technician to troubleshoot errors and make repairs.

The threat of malfunction puts our patients’ lives at risk. After many years of use, the crash carts across the organization are no longer standardized – we cannot rely on them to be equipped with the necessary life-saving tools that staff need in an emergency.

 

“Searching for an IV, suction catheter, defibrillator pads, airway equipment, or even gauze, really makes an already stressful environment even more stressful. These precious minutes truly make a difference.”  ~ Tyler Pilon, Critical Care Nurse, GBGH

 

 

When we can respond quickly and effectively in an emergency, life-saving stories are possible. Having the right tools readily available ensure staff can provide safe, quality care in a timely manner.

We need to replace our entire fleet of crash carts and defibrillators at Georgian Bay General Hospital.  New, easy-to-use defibrillator technologies go even further and help our care teams consistently deliver high-quality CPR, as well as providing optimal defibrillation and pacing treatments.

To ensure quick, easy access to a crash cart (equipped with a defibrillator) in an emergency, we need to have 11 units distributed throughout the building. Additionally, we require a more compact defibrillator when patients are requiring monitoring, or pacing during a transport to another facility.

Transporting a critically ill patient through the hospital, or to another facility, requires a lightweight device with extensive monitoring capabilities. This ensures transport teams have access to the vital signs with no interruption. A transport monitor provides that plus defibrillation and real-time CPR feedback in one compact device.