How Mobile Carts Help Solve IT Challenges for Rural Healthcare

Information technology – IT – is rapidly improving the overall effectiveness of healthcare services.

Nowhere is this more evident than in underserved communities, where access to care is often limited by distance and provider shortages. To meet those challenges, more and more rural healthcare systems are leveraging high-speed internet, portable digital devices, and multifunctional mobile carts to provide an ever-wider array of healthcare services to isolated communities.

Mobile Carts + Telehealth Tech = An End to Physician Shortages

While the average urban area in the United States has just over 53 physicians for every 100,000 residents, the average rural community has only 39.8. With numbers like these, patients may have to travel long distances and wait weeks to access care.

Mobile carts equipped with digital technology – a laptop or tablet, video camera, microphone and speaker, and a reliable, fast internet connection -- can eliminate at least some of this travel by connecting physicians with patients for virtual visits, regardless of where either is located.

Providing Support for High-Risk, High-Need Patients

High-risk and high-need patients living in underserved communities often lack the care and support they need to remain healthy and safe. Telecare systems that allow clinicians to remotely monitor heart rates, blood pressure, and blood sugar, and other vital metrics can help provide some of that support.

A mobile cart equipped with a computer monitor and two-way audio communication capabilities can also allow a remote health coach to counsel these patients on healthy foods and the correct use of prescription medications, assist with securing medical appointments, and offer help navigating the healthcare system.

Rural hospitals have also begun using mobile monitoring carts equipped with two-way audio and video technology to observe at-risk patients from a single remote workstation, often eliminating the need for individual sitters at each patient’s bedside.

Improved Data Collection and Information Sharing

Because they often have to travel great distances to see a medical specialist, rural patients may not receive accurate or timely diagnoses of cancer and other health conditions that require immediate treatment. To address that issue, many rural providers are using mobile carts and

 telehealth technology to connect patients with distant specialists when face-to-face encounters aren’t possible or ideal. The same technology can facilitate virtual consultations that allow rural primary care doctors to get input from specialists when they have questions about a patient’s diagnosis or treatment.

Control of Infectious Diseases and Illness

Preventing the transmission of COVID-19, flu, and other infectious diseases is vitally important in the healthcare setting, especially for immunocompromised, pregnant, elderly, or chronically ill patients. Mobile carts and telemedicine platforms allow clinicians to conduct virtual appointments for high-risk patients and screen others for symptoms of an infectious disease before they arrive for an office visit.

In the hospital, mobile carts and digital technologies can virtually connect clinicians to patient rooms, reducing the need for in-person bedside visits and rounds that could encourage the transmission of dangerous pathogens.

Increase Access to Mental Health Services

Like all healthcare, mental health services can be challenging to access in rural areas. Telemedicine carts and digital technology allow mental health clinicians to connect with patients when in-person appointments aren't available.

Numerous studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of mental telehealth for a range of conditions, including depression and substance abuse disorders. In most cases, these virtual services are safe, effective, and comparable in outcomes to in-person services.

Mobile Cart Solutions to Help Rural Providers Better Serve Their Patients

First Healthcare Products offers a wide range of mobile cart solutions to help rural hospitals and clinicians improve workflows, expand access to care, and better serve their communities. From tablet roll stands and telemedicine carts to WOW carts and EHR charting technology, all of our products can be customized to ensure you – and your patients – are getting the most from your IT.

We’ve been working with healthcare providers and acute care facilities for more than 50 years. Our unparalleled commitment to customer service, stellar sales support, devotion to long-term customer satisfaction, and industry-best warranties have earned First Products the trust and respect of the medical community in the United States and throughout the world.

To Learn More and to Arrange for Your Complimentary Demo, Contact First Products Today at 800.854.8304 or navigate our Telehealth Carts section.