Innovative solutions remedy storage issues in new Nebraska Heart Hospital
by Phyllis St. Michael

Nebraska Heart Hospital in Lincoln, NE

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 Nebraska Heart Hospital, which opened in May 2003, is the region’s premiere facility for cardiac, vascular and thoracic services. The building process was well underway in September 2002 when Jackie R. Mendoza, R.N., 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 pull together a storage plan that would be both expeditious and affordable.

Spacesaver procedure room storage

Mendoza turned to Taylor Gilbreath for help. Gilbreath is a storage expert with Midwest Storage Solutions Inc., the local contractor for Spacesaver Corporation, a leading manufacturer of high-density mobile storage systems.

Following a site tour to the Creighton University Medical Center in Omaha to view a Spacesaver storage system in action, Gilbreath asked Mendoza, what, if anything, they’d like to do differently. Pullout racks for catheter storage was high on her list. "Whatever we told Taylor we needed, he just drew it up," said Mendoza. "Catheters come in long skinny packages, so hanging was a must."

Gilbreath not only helped design a special pullout storage system using Ideal CaThrac racks from Ideal Environments, but also was able to customize the entire 4-post shelving unit so it could be located at point of use — within the cardiac catheterization lab procedure room. Preventing dust and other contaminants from settling on shelves and supplies was a challenge, and Mendoza also wanted to be able to see supplies without opening doors. Gilbreath’s solution was custom glass doors from Spacesaver’s affiliate, Delta Designs Ltd. The doors keep supplies contaminant-free, while the glass facilitates quick visual locating of catheters, coronary stents, dressings and other supplies.

"We went back and forth on the design," said Mendoza, "even down to the door handles, which also had to be kept dust-free." The payoff is increased efficiency and productivity for the cath lab department.

Spacesaver powered storage

In both the O.R. 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. The mobile systems effectively double the capacity of each storage area and provide quick, safe access to items stored. Because retrieval time is crucial, being able to have immediate access to any given area at the push of a button was paramount.

The adjustability of shelving was also critical. "Medical supply vendors will change the size of their boxes at a whim and without notice," 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 them throughout the hospital."

Other storage solutions at Nebraska Heart Hospital include Spacesaver stationary shelving for patient supplies in the nursing units, medical supplies in central supply and also for linen storage. Bins are bar-coded, making it easy to track inventory with a bar-code reader.