The Cleveland Clinic, home to one of the nation's best hospitals, including the nation's number one heart center (according to U.S. News & World Report) recently improved space efficiency and saved over 7,000 square feet in critical storage areas in four separate buildings simply by replacing stationary storage equipment with high-density mobile systems. The projects were executed through the Clinic's agreement with the Group Purchasing Organization (GPO) and it's sole-source provider, Spacesaver Corporation.
The common characteristics that high density mobile storage was able to solve within the four buildings was the ability to reconfigure and centralize their storage needs.
Twelve compact mobile systems were installed, three of which are in the Clinical Research Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery Center. High-density mobile storage was a new concept for the Center when planning began for a move to new space. Whereas previously medical records and research projects were stored in filing cabinets and stacks in researcher's cubicles, all are now centralized, along with supplies and equipment, in mobile systems designed to accommodate ten years of growth.
During a recent renovation of this facility storage was upgraded, which includes medical records, plus the radiology film and breast film libraries. During planning it was decided to convert over-stuffed stationary shelving to high-density mobile storage with a plan for growth. The goal was to consolidate three filing systems into one centralized location with one standardized tracking process. Since installation, the medical records section, with 300 to 400 pulls per week and over 2,940 linear feet of storage has already added another carriage. Up to seven more can be added as needs increase.
These recently renovated departments needed to merge together with five to six different storage and tracking systems in use, high-density mobile storage was the solution. Centralization of the department storage by converting to compact mobile systems with a single software tracking system. Seven powered systems were chosen for their operational benefits and safety features. Configurability of different heights and depths of shelves to accommodate the variety of items stored. While all incorporating the same tracking software, and the Payroll/Finance system locks down to protect confidentiality. When the department eventually goes digital, paper records will still be kept for a year, cash documents for seven years and Medicare forms for ten.
With the advantage of planning for storage space during pre-construction, the key challenge was to optimize the space allocated for storage. Powered mobile storage was chosen to store active medical records and x-rays.
