When the Nebraska Heart Institute, a group of physicians who have been practicing in the city of Lincoln for over 25 years, recently built their own 92,000-square-foot Heart Hospital, it was important for everything in it to be in line with their patient-focused philosophy and up to par with their state-of-the-art technologies. Even the materials storage areas had to look as good as they functioned efficiently.
The building process was well underway when Jackie R. Mendoza, RN, joined the organization as Cath Lab Team Leader. As a materials management professional, storage was a major concern to her, so she was quick to notice that it was unaccounted for in the building plan. She needed to quickly pull together a storage plan that would be both efficient and affordable. Mendoza turned to Midwest Storage Solutions, Inc., a member of the nationwide Spacesaver Group. ”We told them what we needed, and they drew it up,” Mendoza said.
For example, when she requested pullout racks for catheter storage, Midwest Storage Solutions not only helped design the special pullout storage system, but also customized the shelving unit so it could be located at the point of need within the Cardiac Catheterization Lab Procedure Room to increase the efficiency and productivity of the Cath Lab Department. “Catheters come in long skinny packages, so hanging was a must,” said Mendoza. Preventing dust and other contaminants from settling on shelves and supplies was key with the Procedure Room shelving. Customized glass doors keep supplies dust-free, while facilitating quick visual location of catheters, coronary stents, dressings and other supplies.
In both the OR Sterile Supply and the Catheter Lab Central Storage areas, powered high-density mobile storage was selected for its cutting-edge technology and ease of use.
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Spacesaver was able to meet a critical need for adjustable shelving. "Supply vendors change the size of their boxes on a whim," said Mendoza. "It's important that our staff can easily adjust shelving heights to the boxes as necessary. We also standardized our bins and dividers so we can interchange then through-out the hospital.