Prototype Crash Cart Moves to Smithsonian

_{Photo courtesy of ECRI Institute}

Max, one of the first prototype cardio resuscitation crash carts when created in 1965, is moving to the Smithsonian's National Museum of American istory in Washington, D.C.

Max "helped enhance hospital's efficiency in emergencies by enabling doctors and nurses to save time, thereby increasing the chances of saving a life," says the ECRI Institute, an independent nonprofit that evaluates medical devices, techniques and drugs, which is making the donation.

The cart and its supplies improved response times and minimized errors because MAX enabled providers to efficiently gather all the life-saving tools needed for emergency patient care. "These patient-centered qualities are now emphasized in today's rapidly changing healthcare system."

Max was given national publicity in 1966 in a LIFE magazine feature.

Brent D. Glass, museum director, said Max "is a representation of an important period in the history of cardiology an cardiac surgery." The cart was designed and created by Joel J. Nobel, MD while he was a surgical resident at Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia three years before he founded the ECRI Institute.

"Nobel's focus on human factors, prevention of operator error and speed of operation paved the way to improved patient care and greater efficiency in American Medicine."