What are the uses of wheel casters on medical equipment?
Casters has many uses, all those uses boil down to just one – to transport items! However, determining the right caster depends largely on the items that the casters are being used on.Improving casters in healthcare facilities can reduce noise, enhance patient satisfaction, and prevent employee injury by driving ergonomics.
Reliable medical equipment casters are extremely important in almost any type of healthcare facility. Medical equipment is typically quite expensive. Casters on hospital equipment will be used to transport patients, so it’s important that these casters do not fail. In a medical environment, the performance of your casters can truly be seen as a matter of life and death!
Medical Casters Are Important Uses
Advances in medical equipment mean that important devices and equipment are much smaller and lighter than previous generations. But it does not necessarily mean that you should ‘skimp’ by using cheap, light-duty medical casters. The norm is now for all types of medical equipment to be transported on some type of cart so that the equipment can easily move throughout a medical facility. These carts are often holding extremely expensive pieces of medical equipment, and therefore the casters must be able to reliably stand up to the daily rigors of rolling up and down the halls day and night. You can easily see how important it is that your casters are always up to the task at hand.
Minimizing Noise
Medical carts can be noisy when rolling on improper casters. Noise level reduction of 10% or more is common when implementing correct caster solutions.
Maintaining A Clean Environment
Patients’ perception of cleanliness can influence their feedback on HCAHPS surveys. This can impact medical facilities’ brand/reputation.
Avoiding Downtime
Medical carts rolling on faulty casters can lead to downtime caused by out-of-service carts or time needed to swap casters
FLOOR PROTECTION
Low-grade wheels can mark and damage floors. High-quality non-marking wheels dispel debris to reduce work required for floor upkeep.
Satisfaction
Reduce noise levels by up to 15%,improving patient satisfaction
Safety
Reduce push-pull force by 10-50%,improving employee comfort and safety
Maintenance
Minimize scuff marks and damage to floors,owering maintenance costs
Finding the Right Supplier for Your Medical Casters
HuanXin Medical Casters Company are supplying a wide range of highly reliable hospital casters, on a wholesale basis. Some of our casters are capable of carrying up to 120 lbs. of valuable medical equipment. Our casters are typically manufactured using dual-bearing raceways (the part of the caster that is attached to the plate mounting allowing for full 360 degree rotation) and are heat-treated during construction to make sure they are durable and easy to maneuver.
We have casters with brakes. This is can make your equipment to remain in one place.
The Type of Casters Used on Medical Equipment
The entire goal of medical equipment casters is to be as useful as possible. And casters have a smart part to play in any kind of medical procedure, but it is still a vital one. The success of any aspect of a medical procedure is dependent upon the entire process being a smooth one. Delays along the line of any description can render the personnel involved at a distinct disadvantage.
All the most important aspects of casters on medical equipment. They must be:
Smooth rolling
Easy to start into motion
Shock absorbing (crucial when transporting patients)
Noise reducing
Hygienic
Easy to clean
Easy to maintain
We also supply casters to the medical industry that both meet and exceed OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) requirements.
Good Hospital Casters Will Allow for Greater Mobility
Hospitals across the country put the needs of their patients above everything else. Hospitals are not like production lines – it’s not a case of ‘patients in, patients out’. The care and comfort of patients are paramount at all times. The better they are treated while they are within your facility, the more likely they are to thrive and recuperate.
This is why mobility – and smooth mobility at that – is crucial. While they are recovering, or waiting for a procedure to begin, endless hours lying in a hospital bed can be soul-destroying. If mobility is possible, then for your patient’s comfort, it should be offered. Patients can often be responsible for the movement of their own health monitors, as they seek the occasional change of scenery. It’s important then that there is no hindrance to their mobility, and smooth-rolling, reliable casters are key to that.
Patients must be wheeled throughout the hospital from their beds to surgery and from surgery to recovery, and then back to their beds.
It is vitally important that these transitions as smooth as possible, for the comfort and well being of your patients. For hospital gurneys and stretchers, you need to invest in the highest-performing caster wheels possible.
Get Your Medical Operation Running as Smoothly as Silk!
Our medical castors are suitable for the medical profession. They are smooth-rolling, quiet and reliable. They are manufactured to extremely high standards – as necessary when you’re dealing with patients and expensive pieces of medical equipment.
The Importance of the Right Casters on Medical Equipment in a Healthcare Environment
Here are a few key points to consider:
a) Wheel Material: The wheel material that you select impacts a variety of performance parameters. Popular choices for medical applications include Neoprene and Urethane wheels which are considered quiet, non-marking and shock absorbent. Accounting for these factors creates an environment which restricts noise levels for both patients and operators, reduces risk of damaging floors, while also extenuating damages to the equipment and injury to personnel.
b) Load Capacity: In general, it is recommended that each caster should have the capacity to support one-third of the total load weight of the load.
c) Floor and Environmental Conditions: Floor conditions could include towing equipment on greasy surfaces. Environmental conditions could include exposure to harsh chemicals, etc. These factors need to be weighed when selecting casters. Our medical caster resist corrosion due to exposure to chemicals and therefore make a great match for equipment used in operating rooms, laundry rooms, etc.
d) Requirements for braking and locking mechanism: There are various options available. Usually, the braking and locking mechanism on medical casters is more complex than on industrial casters.
e) Wheel Diameter and Bearing: Optimal wheel diameter and bearing selection will have a positive impact on maximizing mobility and enhancing workplace ergonomics.
f) g-force (a measurement of the type of acceleration that causes a perception of weight): A lower g-force improves shock absorption and provides extra protection to the equipment while also assisting to reduce injury risks to operators.
g) Durability: Consider the number of kilometers a single piece of medical equipment is expected to travel during its product life cycle. Casters with durability curate replacement costs.
For the OEMs, besides considering the points above that end-users value, the following can be factored in:
a) Aesthetics, a key element of product design: In an era where form is considered as important as function, imagine a situation where a cutting edge ultrasound machine is outfitted with casters that appear more like tools added purely for their functional value. This would reduce the premium feel of the equipment. Similar to cutting edge automobiles which use wheels to enhance the function as well as the appearance of their products, casters can be used to add to the overall design and premium feel of the medical equipment.
b) Using casters with a positive reputation: Many end-users prefer casters from trustworthy and well-known manufacturers therefore including these casters on the original equipment creates additional value for the end-users.
c) Collaborating with caster manufacturers at the early stage of new product development: To ensure that casters are “right” for the intended application, it is a great practice to involve caster manufacturers early in the product design process. Early inputs from caster manufacturers can reduce the time to market and significantly improve design value.
Selecting the right casters makes a positive impact to a variety of key areas including longevity of equipment and enhanced workplace ergonomics. The right casters improve efficiency and productivity and, in turn, ROI.