care & love
In the bustling corridors of a hospital, every second counts. But for many healthcare facilities, one of the quietest drains on time, energy, and resources has long been hiding in plain sight: patient mobility. Imagine a nurse, already stretched thin by back-to-back appointments, pausing to manually push a wheelchair down a crowded hallway. Or a physical therapist struggling to maneuver a patient from a nursing bed to a transport chair, their muscles straining with each lift. These moments, repeated hundreds of times a day, add up—to delayed care, exhausted staff, and patients left waiting longer than necessary. But what if there was a way to turn this tide? At Maplewood General Hospital, a mid-sized medical center in the heart of the Midwest, that's exactly what happened when they swapped out their fleet of manual wheelchairs for smart electric models. This is their story.
Maplewood General wasn't struggling with the big, headline-grabbing problems. Their ER wait times were average, their infection rates low, and patient satisfaction scores hovered just above the national median. But behind the scenes, a quieter crisis was unfolding—one that threatened to erode the hospital's ability to deliver timely, compassionate care. The issue? Patient mobility.
"We were drowning in small, repetitive tasks that no one talked about," says Sarah Martinez, a charge nurse in Maplewood's medical-surgical unit, who's worked at the hospital for 12 years. "Take Mr. Henderson, for example—a sweet older gentleman recovering from a hip replacement. Every time he needed to go to radiology, it took two of us: one to push his manual wheelchair, another to grab the oxygen tank he on. By the time we got him there, waited for the scan, and brought him back, we'd lost 45 minutes of our shift. And that was just one patient. Multiply that by 20 or 30 transports a day, and you're looking at hours of wasted time."
The numbers backed Sarah's frustration. In 2022, Maplewood's internal audits revealed that staff spent an average of 2.3 hours per shift on non-clinical tasks related to patient transport—pushing wheelchairs, adjusting positions, and assisting with transfers between beds, chairs, and exam tables. Worse, 15% of all staff injuries that year were due to manual lifting and pushing, leading to $120,000 in workers' compensation claims and a rotating door of temporary staff filling in for injured employees.
Patients felt the impact too. In surveys, 38% of respondents reported waiting "longer than acceptable" for transport to appointments, with many describing the process as "humiliating" or "disrespectful." "It's not just the wait," one patient wrote in feedback. "It's the feeling that you're a burden—like the staff has better things to do than help you move. I'd lie in bed and avoid asking for help, even when I needed it, because I didn't want to be a hassle."
The hospital's leadership team knew something had to change. "We'd tried everything," says James Lin, Maplewood's chief operations officer. "We added more transport staff, cross-trained nurses to help with lifts, and even brought in extra patient lifts to reduce strain. But the problem wasn't the number of people—it was the tools they were using. Manual wheelchairs and outdated transport chairs were slowing us down, and the physical toll on our team was unsustainable."
In early 2023, James and his team began researching alternatives. They considered upgrading to better manual wheelchairs with lighter frames, but quickly realized that wouldn't address the root issue: human effort. Then, during a healthcare technology conference, they stumbled upon a booth for a local electric wheelchair manufacturer specializing in hospital-grade models. "The rep demonstrated a chair that could navigate tight corners on its own, adjust speed based on hallway traffic, and even sync with our electronic health record (EHR) system to log transport times," James recalls. "I thought, 'This isn't just a wheelchair—it's a mobility solution.'"
The team invited the manufacturer to Maplewood for a trial. Over two weeks, they tested three models of smart electric wheelchairs, gathering feedback from nurses, transport staff, and patients. The winning design, a sleek, gray model with a joystick controller and a small touchscreen, had features that felt tailor-made for Maplewood's needs:
"The first time I used it, I almost cried," Sarah laughs. "I was taking a patient to occupational therapy, and instead of huffing and puffing to push her up the ramp, I just hit 'start' on the joystick and walked beside her, chatting about her grandkids. It felt like I had an extra pair of hands."
Maplewood's leadership approved the purchase of 50 smart electric wheelchairs in March 2023, with plans to phase them in over six months. But rolling out new technology in a hospital isn't as simple as unboxing and plugging in. The team knew they needed to address three key hurdles: staff training, technical integration, and patient trust.
At first, some staff were wary. "I thought, 'Great, another gadget that'll break and leave us worse off than before,'" admits Mike Torres, a transport technician with eight years of experience. "I'd seen 'smart' devices come and go—like that fancy patient lift that kept malfunctioning and left us stuck manual lifting again. But the manufacturer sent trainers for two full weeks, and they didn't just show us how to use the wheelchairs—they listened to our concerns."
Training sessions included hands-on practice with mock patients, troubleshooting drills (What if the battery dies mid-transport? What if the sensors misread a crowd?), and role-playing scenarios to help staff feel confident explaining the technology to patients. "They even let us customize little things, like the beep volume when the chair's moving," Mike says. "By the end, I was volunteering to be the 'chair expert' for my unit."
Maplewood started small, deploying 10 wheelchairs in the medical-surgical unit and ER—two areas with the highest transport volumes. For the first month, a tech support team from the electric wheelchair manufacturer was on-site daily to address glitches. There were hiccups: once, a wheelchair got confused by a shiny floor wax and veered off course; another time, the EHR sync failed, leading to a 10-minute delay. But the team adapted quickly, updating the chair's software to ignore reflective surfaces and adding a backup paper schedule for transports.
By the end of the pilot, the results were hard to ignore. Transport times dropped from an average of 22 minutes per trip to 12 minutes. Staff injuries related to lifting and pushing fell by 40%. And patient feedback? "One woman told me, 'I felt like I was in control for the first time since I got here,'" Sarah says. "That stuck with me. These chairs didn't just save us time—they gave patients their dignity back."
By the end of 2023, Maplewood had fully replaced their manual wheelchairs with smart electric models. A year later, the data painted a clear picture of success. Here's how their key metrics shifted:
| Metric | Before (2022) | After (2023) | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Time spent on transport per staff shift | 2.3 hours | 1.1 hours | -52% |
| Staff injuries due to lifting/pushing | 24 per year | 9 per year | -62.5% |
| Average patient wait time for transport | 18 minutes | 7 minutes | -61% |
| Patient satisfaction with "timeliness of care" | 68/100 | 89/100 | +31% |
| Workers' compensation claims (transport-related) | $120,000/year | $45,000/year | -62.5% |
"The numbers are impressive, but the real win is how it's changed our culture," James says. "Our nurses and techs aren't just less stressed—they're more present. Instead of rushing through transports to get back to their patients, they're taking the time to talk, to listen. That's the kind of care we want to provide."
Perhaps the most unexpected benefit? A 22% reduction in nurse turnover in the first year after implementation. "I was this close to quitting," admits Lisa Wong, a new grad nurse who joined Maplewood in 2022. "The constant lifting and pushing left me with back pain, and I felt like I wasn't actually 'nursing'—just chauffeuring. Now, I spend my shifts doing what I love: caring for patients. I haven't missed a day of work due to injury, and I'm actually excited to come to work. That's priceless."
Of course, the transition wasn't without its challenges. The biggest sticker shock? Cost. At $3,500 per wheelchair, Maplewood invested $175,000 in their initial fleet—not a small sum for a hospital already operating on tight margins. "We had to make a case to the board," James recalls. "We showed them the numbers: the $75,000 we saved on workers' comp, the $40,000 in overtime costs avoided because staff weren't stuck on transports. They agreed to a three-year payment plan with the manufacturer, and we've already recouped half the investment."
Another hurdle was patient resistance, especially among older adults wary of "robotic" technology. "Mrs. Carter, a 91-year-old with COPD, flat-out refused to get in one at first," Sarah says. "She said, 'I don't want some machine pushing me around.' So I sat with her, let her hold the joystick, and showed her how she could control it herself. By the end of the week, she was racing down the hallway, honking the little horn it came with. We called her 'Speed Racer' after that."
Technical growing pains also popped up. Once, during a power outage, the wheelchairs' backup batteries lasted only 45 minutes, leaving several patients stranded. The team responded by adding portable battery packs to each unit and updating the chairs' software to conserve power during outages. "You learn as you go," James says. "The key is to stay flexible and listen to your staff—they're the ones on the front lines."
Today, walking through Maplewood General's hallways, you'll still see staff bustling—but the energy is different. Nurses chat with patients while strolling beside smart wheelchairs, transport techs high-five each other after a quick, smooth trip to radiology, and patients smile instead of sighing when it's time to move. The hospital has even become a local example, hosting tours for other facilities curious about their success.
"Smart electric wheelchairs aren't a silver bullet," James is quick to note. "They work because we paired them with better training, clearer workflows, and a commitment to putting staff and patients first. But they were the catalyst. They showed us that small changes to everyday tools can have a ripple effect across the entire hospital."
For other hospitals struggling with similar inefficiencies, Sarah has a simple piece of advice: "Start small. Pilot one unit, talk to your staff, and let the results speak for themselves. At the end of the day, it's not about the technology—it's about making healthcare easier for the people who deliver it and the people who need it most."
As Maplewood General continues to expand its use of smart mobility solutions—next on the list: integrating the wheelchairs with their patient lift systems for even smoother transfers—the message is clear: when you invest in tools that respect the humanity of both staff and patients, everyone wins. And in healthcare, that's the greatest efficiency gain of all.