Dustin Patterson & Brayden Bennett | Regional Sales Managers, LogiQuip®

Let’s continue our conversation on how to make Sterile Storage as efficient as possible to prevent OR delays. Over the last two months, we discussed replacing traditional plastic bin storage with fine mesh wire basket shelves to increase storage capacity as well as ways to increase visibility to make it easier to find the supplies you are looking for. In Part 3, let’s round out the “Time is Money” series with a few tips for organizing your Sterile Storage for more efficient picking.

There are several levers you can pull to set your Sterile Storage up for quick picking, including setting up your storage room by specialty/procedure, ensuring you have the optimal PAR levels, and implementing track shelving.

Set Up by Specialty or Procedure: By organizing your Sterile Storage by specialty or procedure, you can pick everything you need for a case on one or two shelves vs. opposite sides of your storage room.

Optimize PAR Levels: This starts with usage data. Get a clear understanding of what is being used and how much is being used. By tracking and analyzing supply usage as well as reviewing pick lists, you can better understand which supplies are moving fast, slow, or not moving at all. This can help to eliminate supply shortages and expired products to ensure you have exactly what you need when you are picking a case.

Bin Locating: This provides an inventory list with locations to easily find the bin you need.

Track Shelving: Sterile Storage often doesn’t have the space needed. In these instances, you can implement track shelving, which can increase your storage capacity by up to 50% without increasing your footprint.

Following these tips will help keep your OR running smoothly and on time! Stay tuned for next month when we will dive into the world of case carts! 

Beyond Clean Healthcare Storage Experts™ Biography:

Dustin Patterson is currently the Mid-West Regional Sales Manager with LogiQuip® Healthcare Storage Solutions, based in Kalamazoo, MI, and has served healthcare organizations exclusively for over 30 years. Working alongside Dustin is Brayden Bennett. Brayden is LogiQuip’s Northeast Regional Sales Manager.

Combined, Dustin and Brayden bring over 21 years of experience in space planning and healthcare storage. Working closely with hospitals and surgery centers to develop tailored solutions using a mix of best practices, Lean principles, and industry-leading storage solutions, Dustin and Brayden have an in-depth understanding of Sterile Processing Departments and have worked with many to maximize storage spaces, balancing trade-offs between high-capacity storage layouts and workflow efficiencies.