Ask ECRI: Requirements for Maintaining an On-Site Crash Cart

​A health center that also runs a homeless shelter recently inquired whether any regulations require the center to maintain a crash cart on-site. The center's quality, safety, and compliance director notes that vaccines are administered at the center, and asks whether this fact affects recommendations for keeping carts.

In our response, ECRI Institute notes that state and local laws and requirements (i.e., the type and content of licenses required for an ambulatory practice), as well as state or federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration requirements, come into play in determining whether a crash cart should be maintained at the site. ECRI Institute is not aware of a requirement to maintain a crash cart at sites whose primary purpose...