Hospitals are highly organised facilities, with different departments and units working to provide high-quality medical services efficiently. This wouldn’t be possible without proper storage systems, especially for operating rooms (OR), where good organisation and quick retrievals are essential for successful surgeries.
Together with seamless ward and departmental stock management processes, mobile storage systems can ensure that the OR functions at its best with the needed supplies at the ready.
Storage Requirements for OR Sterile Supplies
The OR requires expansive storage space to provide efficient services to its patients. In most hospitals, sterile supplies are typically located outside the OR suite and next to the procedure rooms. These areas need to be spacious, organised, and mobile to ensure materials are easily accessible at all times.
Traditional storage solutions that are common in many health centres include wire rack systems attached to overhead tracks. There are wire carts present in many supply rooms, and while they get the job done, these aren’t the most efficient means of storage! Overhead tracks can make it difficult to move around the wire racks with little to no flexibility in the shelf design for customised needs. With this kind of setup, materials can move around on the shelves, making it time-consuming to locate items for inventory.
Maintaining your inventory may also be an issue with open shelves and wire ends present. Dust can easily fall onto sterile items—which will require them to be cleaned again for safe use—and objects can easily get caught and damaged on wire ends.
Mobile Storage System Solutions
Mobile storage systems have specifically designed bins that can free up as much as twice the space in your OR storage areas. Eliminating the need for aisles and conserving space between shelves and items creates more room to place sterile items in an organised fashion.
Powered modular storage systems can easily replace as many as 15 wire carts and over 300 plastic totes, as was the case in other hospitals. This increase in storage allows the storage of up to two months’ supply of more than 200 items kept on hand. With mobile storage systems, incoming shipments are immediately stored while everyday case cart retrievals are easier and quicker.
Mobile systems can also store linens, miscellaneous medical supplies, and additional instrument sets. This cuts the searching time in half for personnel who need to search carts for linens and other items since mobile systems automatically unbundle the linen and place them on the shelves in assigned locations.
The core area of the ER is where mobile systems are especially important. One example of an organised setup is to have one system for storing sterile instrument sets while another is used for sutures. Having these items on hand in case replacement instruments or supply items are needed can justify the need to take up a bit more space in the OR. Every second counts when a patient is under anaesthesia; you don’t want to be wasting time rummaging around for supplies during critical surgery.
Conclusion
Time is of the essence in the OR, and being a split second too late can make a huge difference in the outcome of the surgery. Efficient storage systems can play a critical role in supporting this essential work. Doing away with bulky shelves and wire racks are beneficial to the overall organisation and functionality of the OR.
Doctors and nurses can also act swiftly without straining their mental faculties more than necessary with the added work of searching for a surgical tool. To ensure your facility remains modern and able to serve its patients in the best way, consider investing in mobile storage systems.
At PP Healthcare Solutions Ltd., we provide high-quality medical storage for ward and departmental stock management in the healthcare sector. We can offer turnkey solutions for healthcare professionals! For pharmacy storage and other needs, purchase our storage solutions today.