Healthcare continues to evolve. Thank goodness. If not, we might still be treating people with maggots and mercury! However, this also means healthcare professionals face fresh challenges and changing standards on a regular basis.
COVID-19 exacerbated daily pressure on healthcare providers. Keeping patients and employees healthy and safe in a pandemic also adds layers. So, once more, standards have changed and processes have been revisited. That’s why healthcare storage solutions need to be flexible enough to meet evolving demands.
We know that while helping the patients is every healthcare institution’s primary objective, each one will have its own way of doing things. Our experience shows us that storage solutions can make a difference in providing efficient care, indirectly affecting a patient’s life.
At the same time, with healthcare staff shortages projected for every state by 2026, storage can also improve morale. Providing more efficient access to drugs, tools or devices, or reconfiguring a space to be more ergonomic, can improve productivity and morale. That translates to greater patient satisfaction too.
One of the biggest challenges in healthcare is approaching storage in a certain way, because that’s how it’s always been done. At Patterson Pope we know every department and facility needs a distinct approach. This ebook highlights some of the many different solutions available to provide you with facility-specific storage while you offer patient-centered care.
With five decades of experience working with healthcare storage, we’ve seen most of the challenges that impact healthcare. This ebook highlights the creative ways we’ve helped those in the healthcare profession. From retail pharmacies to regional healthcare systems or nursing stations to procedure rooms, we can customize the prescription for your success.
The following pages highlight applications for the wide variety of storage solutions that help:
+ Organize equipment for improved employee access, which helps combat burnout
+ Save space to provide more room for patient care
+ Ensure what’s needed is available where and when you need it
+ Improve drug storage and inventory control to reduce restocking needs
+ Support often overworked medical staff by increasing efficiencies, improving ergonomics and even providing peace of mind their belongings are secure
Every department or area in a hospital or medical clinic has its own unique storage challenges and solutions. Most important is the knowledge and experience to identify the perfect solution for each challenge. Our experience in all phases of storage sales, planning, design, install allow us to create custom storage solutions for any application and make the process as simple as possible.
PHARMACY/LAB
STERILE PROCESSING/STERILE CORE
EQUIPMENT MANAGEMENT
OPERATING/PROCEDURE ROOMS
PATIENT FLOORS
INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGY
MEDICAL LIBRARIES
EMPLOYEE STORAGE
Pharmacists want to engage with patients and adapt to changes in the healthcare system. Lab technicians are looking to advance science, not waste time seeking out that sample they need. With the right storage organization, you can:
+ Control inventory for cost savings/compliance
+ Reduce risks
+ Increase employee morale with improved ergonomics
+ Keep up with demands for cleanliness
+ Know there is a right place for everything
Laminate modular casework is completely configurable to your needs now, but is also designed to change as your workflow evolves. Adjustable shelving and organization modules make it even easier to keep track of your stuff and sort and store medicines and equipment to streamline workflow.
FrameWRX Bin Shelving offers convenient, compact storage that you can change on the fly. Easily rearrange these hanging plastic bins, peg-board hooks, cart bins and slat-wall accessories for unlimited storage possibilities.
Think of Hanel Rotomat carousels as a storage Ferris wheel. This vertical compact storage solution brings supplies to you at the touch of a button to save time, eliminate bending and reaching and regain up to 60% more space.
Universally slotted case-type shelving systems are configurable for the rest of your needs. Optional features include pull-out storage shelves, bin dividers and divider rods and drawers or doors in single-wall, double-wall, and window.
For a retail pharmacy in a North Carolina hospital system, several casework solutions were used to transform a 1,300-squarefoot home into a convenient community facility serving the pharmaceutical needs of thousands.
Optimizing space and maintaining a safe, clean laboratory environment were priorities and Spacesaver’s ventilated lab cabinets provided the solution. The resulting compact, efficient system keeps pharmaceutical chemicals organized while protecting staff from potentially harmful fumes.
FrameWRX storage is the cornerstone of the simple and efficient solution for a pharmacy in the Peterborough Regional Health System. Numerous rows of bins of different sizes give every inventory item an exact storage place, yet each system is customized to match how the pharmacists do their jobs.
— Director of Pharmacy for a North Carolina hospital system
With Patterson Pope, we were able to achieve that perfect marriage of form and function.
Sterile processing is at the heart of healthcare cleaning and sterilization. Technicians work hard to ensure every piece of medical equipment or device goes out sterilized. The last thing you want to do is make it difficult to find things in an inefficient work environment. With sterile core storage solutions, you can count on:
+ Greater organization
+ Enhanced inventory control
+ Improved ergonomics
+ Saving space
+ Ease of cleaning aided by the right material choices
Stainless steel modular casework and tables can transform your storage surfaces to be easy to clean and sanitize while protecting the materials stored.
One of the biggest problems SPDs face is finding enough room for all the supplies. Installing Rousseau drawers, case-style
shelving, stainless pegboards and more with powered mobile shelving or mechanical-assist shelving can help you create an area that is clean, efficient and easy to navigate.
Another option is the Hanel Rotomat Carousel which can reclaim 60% of your footprint by going vertical to meet your storage needs.
Stainless Steel Modular Casework cabinets with sloped tops and glass doors were installed in a Hospital’s Maternity Suite C-Section rooms. The stainless steel stands up to harsh cleaning chemicals, and the glass doors provide visibility inside the cabinets.
At Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel, adding a Rotomat carousel helped utilize space for storage in a fresh way. Patterson Pope helped to re-examine how things were stored and configured the unconventional space as a perfect tool for the job.
At Owensboro Healthcare System in Kentucky, mobile shelving, baskets, waterfall shelves, and cantilever shelving were used to create a more fluid, workable layout for issuing supplies and controlling and securing materials.
The maneuverability of the pieces is great because it allows us to make the area truly ours.
— Chris
Edwards, SPD manager, Owensboro Healthcare System (OHS)
When the patient thinks of healthcare materials, they think pills, prescription pads and scrubs should do it. Every administrator knows there is so much more to store. An appropriate storage solution:
+ Organizes healthcare equipment, materials and devices
+ Improves inventory control
+ Reduces footprint required
+ Increases employee productivity
+ Streamlines logistics and processes
+ Protects stored materials
Wide-span shelving is a storage solution perfectly suited to the wide variety of materials you need to store. RaptorRAC wide-span shelving is perfect for heavy, bulky and large item storage. Getting it out of the way can free up thoroughfares for patient care and staff ease of movement. Wire shelving adds functionality, cleanliness and unmatched air flow to house a variety of hospital supplies and materials.
Powered mobile shelving is another way to reclaim precious floorspace. Create a movable aisle that compacts storage and provides extra space for activities that directly impact patient-centered care. Mechanicalassist mobile shelving offers similar benefits. Add wire shelving or bin shelving to mobile carriages to double storage capacity.
Hanel Rotomat is another storage solution we recommend for materials management applications. A Rotomat carousel is a great choice for small storage spaces that can’t accommodate high-density mobile shelving. You get the same benefits by going vertical instead.
You can also enable easy restocking and quick access to inventory with clear glass doors on hospital trauma cabinets and open bin systems to enhance visibility.
The NCH Healthcare Northeast Emergency Department in Naples, Florida had challenging space dimensions, but Patterson Pope customized a solution to make the storage more structured and industry compliant. In fact, supply deliveries were lowered to just two or three a week thanks to the faster and more accurate inventory control offered with the Rotomat carousel.
To support the need for COVID testing in southern California, a 30,000 square foot lab was built in just two months. With compact storage shelving helping to store test kits in refrigerated rooms, the existing lab’s 7,500-per-day capacity was increased dramatically to 50,000 daily tests.
Patterson Pope understood from the beginning that emergency department teams can’t stop and wait for essential medical supplies due to mechanical issues. We appreciate the Rotomats’ functionality and how they have proven to be a truly great solution for the given space.
— Sue Facteau, NCH system manager of central distribution
Caring for patients is obviously the top priority in healthcare. Yet hospitals, clinics and other healthcare settings must also care for a lot of important (and expensive) equipment. Patterson Pope’s storage solutions provide:
+ Space savings
+ Increased capacity
+ Improved organization
+ Enhanced inventory control
The Vidir Bedlift is the right prescription when space is at a premium. The Bedlift offers vertical storage for up to five hospital beds in a footprint slightly larger than a single bed. Expensive, bulky beds can be securely stored — out of hallway and corridors — and accessed with a simple push of a button. Similarly, lift technology provides quick access to powered or folding wheelchairs. Vertical wheelchair lifts protect your investment in this essential equipment while simultaneously saving you money by freeing up space.
FrameWRX Bin Shelving can be rearranged on demand to suit your changing equipment
+ Streamlined logistics
+ Protection of equipment investments
+ Ease of use and better ergonomics for employees
needs. Meanwhile, Hanel Rotomat carousels can bring organized supplies, files and media to the operator. This is another vertical solution making use of the height of your space.
Modular casework is another way to stow equipment securely. Patterson Pope’s flexible and functional wall, tall, base and storage cabinets are extremely easy to reconfigure as needs change.
Worried that the stuff you want to store is too unwieldy or the storage considerations are too temperamental? Our ActivRAC Industrial Mobile Shelving System is well-suited to warehouses and storage rooms, even in cold storage
Replacing a manual storage system for hospital beds transformed the way things were done at AnMed Health. The Bedlift solution is safer, making it easier and more ergonomically convenient for staff to store and access the beds.
You know inconvenient storage leads to wasted time and space, expired inventory and added expenses from that disorganization. Whether it’s personal protective equipment or simulation mannequins, you’ll want to save space and secure valuable contents.
Consider the solution at Stanford University’s sports medicine clinic. Getting an athlete back on their feet, even if aided by crutches, is easier with heavy-duty steel pegboard storage and durable finish lockers for other necessary equipment.
With the solution we have now, we have 45 beds in the same space that we would have had 20, which with a warehouse solution, is huge.
— Brian Little, Environmental Services Project Manager, AnMed Health
When we talk about storage (which, obviously, we do a lot) we frequently acknowledge the importance of efficient access to what you have stored. When it comes to operating and procedure rooms, though, immediate access to what’s needed becomes critical (quite literally). A customized storage solution offers:
+ Top-notch sanitation
+ Ease of cleaning
+ Materials protection
+ Durability and reliability
+ Inventory control
+ Security measures
+ Improved access
What you need to store for any given procedure can change as the hospitals’ patient population evolves. With case-style shelving, offering universally slotted shelving that you can conveniently reconfigure, you invest in a solution knowing it can adapt for the future too.
Modular casework also offers efficient access and adaptability. These reconfigurable pieces of storage furniture come in stainless steel to help with cleanability and infection control. Keep an eye on your items with glass front door options too.
Mechanical-Assist Shelving mounts shelving onto mobile carriages to significantly reduce the amount of storage space needed. This can free up crucial floor space for bigger procedure rooms or more efficient movement in the OR.
Hanel Rotomat carousel storage provides ergonomic and space-saving solutions for hospitals. Replacing movable racks with vertical storage dramatically reduces costs due to enormous space savings. Fast and easy access also improves employee morale.
Sterile storage is critical at The Pediatric Heart Center at Tulane Hospital for Children. A Hamilton Caseworks solution was customized with superior corrosion-resistant stainless steel and glass cabinet fronts for clear supply visibility.
Florida Hospital in Altamonte relies on its Rotomat systems to guarantee fast access of operating room materials. One carousel provides maximum storage in a minimum footprint. Employees use their IDs for secure access and items are delivered at the optimal height.
The Medical College of Pennsylvania turned to a Spacesaver mechanical-assist system in a redesign to create bigger procedure rooms In the process, the sterile processing areas also became more prolific and space efficient.
Without the mobile system, we would never have been able to have fit everything in the OR area and still achieve our other remodel goals.
— Lisa Czyzewski, OR director, Medical College of Pennsylvania
Hospital administrators want patient floors as orderly and open as possible. Staff need to get where they’re going efficiently. Plus, patient falls are a real hazard. Installing the right supply storage solutions offers many benefits including:
+ Enhanced patient care and safety
+ Fast access to patient supplies
+ Improved inventory control
The more time caregivers spend with patients, the shorter the patient’s stay, which frees up a bed for the next patient in need. Try the convenience of CoreSTOR Patient Server Cabinets to improve efficiency and regain more usable space per floor. These medical storage cabinets bring the nurse’s station to every patient room in a compact and organized way.
Adjustable FrameWRX Bin Shelving can be rearranged on demand, without tools or fasteners. Highly customizable and easily movable, this storage easily accommodates hanging plastic bins, peg-board hooks, cart bins and slat-wall accessories.
+ Greater employee efficiency
+ More usable space per floor
+ Better patient and family satisfaction
Laminate modular casework is designed to change with you and is ideal for communal workspaces, break rooms, kitchens and other spaces with specific storage needs. Adjustable shelving and organizing modules offer the versatility you need with the look of built-in millwork.
Incorporate isolation gown bins into your casework or add an isolation station to keep your workers safe and healthy. Make masks, respirators and gloves readily available when they’re needed.
Atrium Medical Group in Ohio used Spacesaver’s bin shelving to develop a unique, highly-efficient and adaptable solution. Placing an array of color-coded bins in a variety of sizes on a majority of patient floors helped improve efficiency and expedite accurate inventory counts
Hamilton Caseworks produced a full set of casework in exam rooms, reception desks, blood labs, break rooms, and more for Oak Street Health clinics within Walmart stores. With this type of construction, there was speed-to-market, predictability and overall cost reduction.
A Spacesaver high-density mobile system provides plenty of storage for a Midwestern cancer treatment center. Keeping medical supplies clean, organized and accessible helps staff serve more patients — and well.
Better-organized supplies and materials means faster materials management practices — that means nurses spend less time looking for supplies and more time with patients.
— Atrium Medical Group
Your information technology team may be behind the scenes, but they have storage needs too. Plus, you need somewhere to store all the hardware supporting your Electronic Health Records (EHR), digital devices and high-tech equipment.
With the pace of healthcare digital transformation, prioritize IT storage needs with solutions that offer:
+ Ease of access
+ Improved organization
+ Protection of items stored
+ Security
+ Agility
Patterson Pope’s IT storage can be custom engineered to fit any space. Plus, it can be conveniently reconfigured for re-installation as technology needs change. Keep up with the pace of change for IT needs in healthcare with the flexibility offered by smart lockers, laminate
modular casework, 4-post shelving or casetype shelving.
Add the advantage of space savings to your solution by installing mechanical-assist shelving to compact storage in movable aisles.
There is a continued call for medical libraries. Support core services and supply necessary resources with library storage solutions focused on:
+ Organization
+ Aesthetics
+ Maximizing space
+ Optimizing access to material
Endorse evidence-based care by making research resources conveniently available. Compact the footprint of your medical library with high-density mobile shelving (powered or mechanical-assist).
Even without installing carriages and rails, you can still save space and offer convenient access to library materials with cantilever or case-type shelving. Customize the appearance and function and also enjoy shelving system adaptability as your needs change.
Healthcare workers are working hard. Many hospitals and healthcare facilities are short-staffed and overwhelmed. Support the employees taking care of themselves by offering secure and convenient storage to:
+ Help people focus on their work
+ Show your team and potential recruits you value people
+ Provide safe and secure personal storage
+ Enjoy durability and make it look good
Patterson Pope’s personal storage lockers are sanitary and simple to use and can meet whatever requirements you might have.
Steel lockers are made to withstand heavy use and abuse. Yet you can invest in this team storage knowing that as your needs change, the lockers can be reconfigured too.
Laminate lockers come in various sizes to fit your space. They’re also flexible and can be adapted to meet your needs for locker or break rooms.
Day-use lockers are perfect for temporary use. You’re offering people privacy and a place to safely stow their belongings. At the same time, these lockers can be used to shape a space as
a collaboration hub or create some privacy in a break area.
Smart lockers can also improve efficiency while giving building administrators more data insights about how lockers are used. Smart touch-less lockers offer added advantages including:
+ RFID scanning or mobile apps to open lockers, which limits hands-on user contact to promote cleanliness and health and safety
+ Reduced administrative burden and expense of key management
+ Ability to set up lockers to be inclusive and ADA compliant
Make your team locker rooms more convenient and give them a more polished look with personal storage or day-use lockers. You can add HVAC connections to better vent uniforms. Or install electric plug-ins and USB charging ports to let people power their electronics while they’re on the job.
Add bold design and delineate space in break rooms with day-use lockers equipped for electronic devices, personal medications and other belongings too.
We’ve also seen healthcare campuses installing parcel delivery lockers to help their employees simplify grocery or package delivery.
Patterson Pope’s planning and design stage begins with a space survey and assessment. Just as there is no single procedure or medicine to cure every illness, we know there’s no one-size-fitsall storage solution.
Our experts look at:
+ Access points in the room
+ Item weight
+ Need for security
+ Code compliance (Fire, ADA, building and more)
+ Floor load
+ Structural engineering factors
+ Sprinkler heads, fire alarm, HVAC placement
“We’re not just trying to pack a lot of stuff in a small space. We’re trying to create a workflow, a really efficient work environment, and a safer workplace.”
— Mike HismanWhether working directly with hospital staff, or the project’s architect, designer or contractor, Patterson Pope’s certified planners co-design a customized storage solution. Based on measurements of the current space and inventory of the existing storage solutions, our dedicated planners will draw up specifications to meet your needs.
We want to make the project suit your needs. So, we have revision stages. Our storage specialist brings the designs back to your decision makers to ask for your input before anything is settled and agreed upon.
Our planners might get handed detailed, thorough specs from the site visit and consultation with the client. Or they’re given just the bare essentials and carte blanche to find the best solution.
Using multiple design tools, the planners then move different storage options around in space to maximize the effectiveness of the storage in the space. They’re not only thinking about aesthetics, but also how the storage solution will be used today — and in the future.
Just as the goal of this guide has been to keep you from having to do the hard work, our certified installers help you avoid the heavy lifting. It’s not just that you don’t have to put heavy storage cabinets or high-density carriages together yourself. We collaborate with your engineers, general contractors and sub-contractors to take the scheduling responsibility off your shoulders.
We work out a timeline for product delivery and installation that works with your team’s schedule. Then, when it comes time to install, Patterson Pope brings in pros to do the job right. Our technicians and installation crews are full-time, experienced storage installers, certified with our manufacturers, experienced in applications and have collectively over 100 years of experience in the our field.
With smart storage solutions, Patterson Pope also has technologists on staff who can troubleshoot the software. Even when it comes to powered lifts and mobile shelving, it is critical that we have people on our team that know and support this technology.
Our teams are flexible and work to meet scheduling requests of clients, architects and designers. After hours or on a specified date? We’ll work hard to make that commitment work. We do what it takes to make the sure the project is done right and on time.
We install it right. Or we make it right. OUR PROMISE
Patterson Pope partners with the best storage system manufacturers. That means you get top quality product and top-of-the-line warranties too.
Patterson Pope is like that Professor you can go back to for advice or a recommendation. We like to continue our relationships with our clients.
Our long-term partnership starts with our technical crews offering on-site product training. This makes sure your people know how to use the storage systems we put in place. We’ll also go over the product warranties, service agreements and maintenance contracts.
You may not get to fill out a course evaluation on your Patterson Pope engagement, but we’ll still be checking back with you to make sure you’re happy. Our company reputation is on the line. We’ve been doing this for 50 years. We stand by the quality of the products we sell and the care you get working with us.
With Patterson Pope, you get the whole package. In healthcare terms, it’s the difference between focusing on one symptom and holistic care.
Storage doesn’t have to be an afterthought. Thinking storage upfront in a new building, an expansion or renovation, lets you respond to human need and plan for efficient use of space in a cost-effective way. Oh, and Patterson Pope’s experts are always here to help!
Patterson Pope provides you with more than just a storage solution. We work with you on design, project management and installation. Along the way you build a long-term relationship with a company you can count on.
Whether you are relocating, renovating or expanding, our experts are always available to help. Together, we can plan efficient use of your space in a cost-effective way. Your patients, prescriptions, equipment and more are in professional hands when you partner with Patterson Pope.
Patterson Pope takes the complicated and makes it simple. Your records, your stuff, your space — all simplified. If it’s in your organization and you can touch it, we help you store it, track it and retrieve it using less space and time than you ever thought possible.
Over its decades in the storage business, Patterson Pope has earned an excellent reputation as a committed partner with clients, architects and general contractors by providing expertise — from consultation to implementation — that delivers bottom-line results.
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