What is a crash cart?

Crash Cart is a term for a piece of hospital furniture that contains drawers, shelves, baskets, and poles with hangers to store life saving utilities, instruments, medications and supplies. Emergency crash carts always come on wheels or casters for quick transportation to the place where they are needed on a minute's notice. Crash carts or code carts are always present near the locations, such as hospital emergency rooms (ER), or intensive care units (ICU), where it is expected that situations will occur where quick reaction and application of a life saving procedure or equipment can save a person's life.

What are the medical crash cart contents?

The exact contents of a crash cart vary by hospital. However, every hospital crash cart contents checklist includes some basic components: For children, pediatric crash cart contents will include often used children medications, and intubation equipment (see below). For adults, included in emergency crash carts are heart rate monitors and defibrillators or automated external defibrillators, AEDs, AED supplies to revive a person's heart beat in case of cardiac arrest; Medications to support a person's heart beat; Medications against frequent problems such as allergies; Drugs such as paralytics to support RSI, rapid sequence intubation, or insertion of flexible tubes into person's mouth and throat to allow intake of essential drugs and to open breathing pathways to the person's lungs; Drugs for intravenous therapy (IV).

The hospital management may include additional crash card supplies into the standard emergency crash cart checklist, beyond the basic crash cart requirements. Every nurse and doctor in the hospital must familiarize themselves with the exact contents of the crash cart so they can make use of them without delay in an emergency.

Types of emergency crash carts by materials and design

All crash carts include drawers for medications and resuscitation tools, table space (or a cardiac board) for quick access to a defibrillator and vertical space for oxygen tanks, or oxygen tank holders, as well as a but they differ in the design of the drawers and in the ability to add extras like IV poles. An important feature not present in most carts is the break away drawer locks.

The two main types of medical crash carts are:

• PVC, plastic, open type, 3 plastic drawer crash cart, and


• Five, six or seven drawer closed drawer type stainless steel emergency crash cart, featuring break-away crash cart locks to assure the contents are intact, or that tampering is evident. Optionally the emergency cart contents will include poles for the IV therapy pouches and tubes, as well as plastic bumpers for protection of oxygen tanks and the cart itself during repositioning. The drawers may include several compartments for easy separation of drugs, instruments, and supplies.

You can find more information on these types of crash carts and where to buy them in the section medication carts reviews.

Types of specialty crash carts by intended use, and content

There is a big difference in emergency carts for infants and adults. Children's cart or pediatric crash cart requires a smaller defibrillator, or AED machine, and different types of pediatric crash cart drugs in its drawers, drugs suitable for the children. Specialty code carts can include modules for respiratory care, such as an oxygen kit with oxygen cylinder (size D or E), air flow regulators, and resuscitator mask tube. There are other types of specialty hospital carts for non-emergency purposes such as medicine carts, various treatment carts, and instrument carts.

How can you buy a crash cart or a code cart?

The easiest and often the fastest way to purchase a crash cart is through one of the large online vendors and have the crash cart delivered to your place. You will find more info and ways to buy emergency crash carts online in the section on crash cart reviews.