Sibley Memorial Hospital, a 344-bed community hospital serving the Washington, DC area, recently underwent renovations that created new, state-of-the-art operating rooms. Along with this construction came storage mandates requiring that all supplies be entered into an automated, computerized materials management system and kept in one central storage location, eliminating any clutter in the hallways.
Linda Sisson, Surgical Services Management Assistant at Sibley, says that for the past 22 years Sibley had been using genuine Metro shelving throughout the hospital. In addition to the five main storerooms, Metro shelving could be found in hallways and throughout the operating room. “Anyplace we could get a shelf unit up and stash something, we had them,” Sisson said. As Metro introduces new shelving systems, such as Top Track™, the hospital is continually able to utilize space more efficiently.
Since the renovation project was to be ongoing throughout a year, any new shelving purchased by the hospital had to be ready for changes. This is why Metro’s new Super Adjustable Super Erecta™ was a welcome solution to Sibley’s storage needs. Existing shelves were used around the perimeter of the room with a row of shelving down the center.
“The shelves could be assembled and in use for six months or better and then need to be adjusted,” Sisson explained. She wanted to be able to adjust how and when the need arose. “As we got everything contained in storage bins or repackaged it on the shelves, we could readjust our shelves accordingly at that time,” she added.
The patented release lever on Super Adjustable Super Erecta™ allows shelves to be adjusted with a simple pull of the lever. Sisson was able to adjust shelves so the storage bins just fit between them and could be pulled out smoothly, leaving no wasted space on the shelving unit. As a result , there are 11 shelves on one particular unit which centrally locates all of the drill bits, burrs and steiman pins.
By consolidating the five storerooms into one room, Sibley gained control over items that were previously disorganized. By utilizing Top-Track™ and moving the freestanding shelves to the middle of the room, the hospital actually gained storage space, including eight additional shelving units.
“All of our tracks now have an extra wide walkway through them. People can push carts in when they’re doing case picking, and they can walk back and forth with their carts very easily,” Sisson said.
Since using centralized storage for all 11 OR’s plus the anesthesia department’s emergency supplies, Sibley is lowering usage and storage costs by about 10% a month. Now that everything is easily accessible and the cardboard boxes have been eliminated, it takes one person less than two hours to inventory the entire operating room, a task which used to take three to four people most of the day to complete.
“We’ve lived a long time waiting for this storeroom to happen. We’re just as pleased as we can be that it’s as presentable as it is and that everyone’s learning how to work with it,” Sisson added.
In addition to the Super Adjustable Super Erecta™ and Top-Track™, the department also managed to add a Starsys™ WorkCenter in the corner of the Storeroom for administrative duties.
