Atrium Medical Center

Maximum Efficiency

Atrium Streamlines Materials Management with Innovative Storage System

SITUATION:

As a leading healthcare provider in Southwest Ohio, Atrium Medical Center appreciates how strategic management of supplies favorably impacts virtually every phase of healthcare. When designing a new state-of-the-art facility, decision-makers combined best practices with a unique storage system to significantly enhance the efficiencies of its materials management approach – and solidify the delivery of quality healthcare for years to come.

Improving supplies storage density

Formerly known as Middletown Regional Hospital, Atrium Medical Center, Middletown, is a 250-bed hospital with a complete range of services. Storage at the old facility involved a combination of wheeled, wire carts and permanent shelving. At the new facility, officials wanted to improve storage density and speed materials management practices. Specifically, they set out to:

• Improve supplies organization and accessibility.
• Exceed the cap of 7,300 supply items on patient floors.
• Improve the PAR level benchmark of 33. At Atrium, PAR level defines the total amount of supplies in each hospital location.
• Speed management of increased inventories.
• Hold down costs.
• Free up nursing staff to spend more time with patients.

The plan called for an innovative storage system capable of delivering an unprecedented level of flexibility to achieve optimum storage density – and maximum materials management efficiency.

Atrium turned to Central Business Group (CBG), the local Spacesaver^® representative and a member of the nationwide Spacesaver Group of independent contractors. CBG developed a highly efficient and adaptable solution that features Spacesaver’s FrameWRX™ Storage System. Atrium installed 20 FrameWRX units in clean utility rooms on a majority of the facility’s patient floors. The systems are also located in a variety of specialty units including cardiac care, intensive care, rehabilitation, and the Family Birth Center.

Solution:

Streamlining Materials Management 

The new system delivers optimal storage density, which allows the medical center to capitalize on available space in the facility’s relatively small clean utility rooms. Each FrameWRX configuration features an array of color-coded bins in a variety of sizes, which are similar from system to system and floor to floor. The systems on six primary medical/surgical nursing units are also identical in layout and color-coding for consistency. The bins are also bar-coded, which expedites accurate inventory counts when used in concert with hand-held scanners. With each freshly stocked FrameWRX system, nurses are assured supplies are available when and where needed. Nurses simply focus on the color-coded section to quickly locate the needed items.

Atrium says the FrameWRX system is a critical component of a highly efficient materials management strategy that allows for fast, easy access to supplies throughout the new medical center. The unique system is directly credited with helping Atrium:

• Streamline operations without having to add full-time staff, or increase inventory costs.
• Increase supplies on patient floors from 7,298 to 11,896.
• Boost PAR levels from 33 to 55.
• Quickly count inventory, check expiration dates, and restock supplies.
• Minimize the time nurses spend searching for supplies – providing greater opportunity for patient care.

For Atrium, a strategic materials management approach – coupled with an innovative FrameWRX system – is a cornerstone for success at the advanced healthcare facility.