Flexible Tablet Mounting for CAPSA Healthcare

A healthcare worker dilemma

Imagine yourself in a fast-paced healthcare environment, where your patient’s chart is requiring a look. As you push it along, the wheels on your cart glide silently along the floor. A quick touch on the cart’s tablet screen is needed, but it’s difficult to reach and awkwardly positioned. You take extra time to adjust, knowing that a second lost takes from time needed for care.
It was a real-life scenario envisioned by CAPSA Healthcare as they reached out to our team for flexible tablet mounting. Innovation in creating more organized, efficient and accurate work environments for healthcare workers is their goal. Their design team excels at creating solutions to scenarios like the one above.

The Problem: Flexible Option Needed for Mounting Tablets

CAPSA had a need: healthcare professionals were not satisfied with the current options to mount a tablet on a mobile medical cart. They felt a flexible arm solution was ideal, allowing the healthcare workers to quickly position and adjust the tablet with ease.

A sense of excitement always enters the air when a customer approaches us with a problem we can help with. Neither of us realized the pandemic was right around the corner and the need for this solution would be dramatically increased.

Positioning Devices for Success

Our engineering team was able to offer our experience with mounting tablets on high-quality flex arms. If the arm is positioned poorly, it can present serious weight challenges. With a natural connection in working with CAPSA’s design team, we were able to design an arm that was ideally positioned to support the weight of the tablet.

Design Process Know How

When mounting with a flex arm, achieving the ideal positioning depends on the quality of the mounted base design. Our engineer was able to develop a unique angled bracket assembly, utilizing a standard AMPS plate. This not only supported the tablet in the ideal position but also allowed the arm to approach the bracket from below in a vertical position. Success! The arm articulated with their current Slim Cart surface and positioned the arm to maximize its strength. Considering the needs of the healthcare workers, with the insight from CAPSA’s team, we proposed including a swivel mechanism. Now, the arm and tablet could be rotated with ease (our Quick Coupler Base did the trick).

We love Functionality AND Beauty

The functional design was now ready. But we know aesthetics are important too. We were excited to provide a mounting bracket that was an exact color match to the cart through a powder coating. One of our standard vinyl flex arm coverings was chosen to look great with the cart. The overall design looks cohesive and elegant.

Samples, Testing, and Team Connection

We appreciate the quality required to develop medical grade products. Once we found a satisfactory design, samples were quickly shipped to the CAPSA engineering team. Their team had the ability to carry out performance testing and identify the perfect flex arm strength required. Throughout the entire process, our team was readily available for conference calls, greatly expediting the process. Issues were quickly identified and solved and design recommendations were easily proposed. We live by the fact collaboration is key. While their team was performing sample testing, we simultaneously went through their process of becoming an approved vendor, allowing for CAPSA to order samples as soon as testing was complete.

COVID-19 and Patient Engagement

Like we mentioned, the process began without either of realizing the pandemic was right around the corner. Now seeing the impact, we believe the design of this tablet mount was Providential. CAPSA’s slim cart was in the field. It was a success with healthcare workers. We didn’t realize the profound impact it would have on patients and their loved ones.

“When coronavirus came along, patients were put into isolation and nurses were improvising by using their own phones to let them communicate with their families. Then flex arm to the rescue. On the Slim Cart, the tablet and arm spins around 360 degrees where it could bend over to face the patient, even when they were lying down.”

Steve Torbett, Sr. Manager Capsa Healthcare

This design is truly impacting lives for the better. We were also able to hear from CAPSA the increased benefit it provides for administering telehealth. We appreciate the care our customers have for the end user—we feel the same. If we have the chance to put ourselves in the healthcare worker’s and patient’s shoes, making the job easier and improving care (all while making a design process enjoyable), we feel like we’ve achieved our ultimate purpose.

If you have your own flexible mounting project in mind, talk with one of our experts or learn more about device development.