Hospitals and other medical offices often have too many supplies and too little space, particularly because innovations in medical technology create more and more instruments that health care providers require to stay up to date. These instruments are often both expensive and delicate, so they must be stored carefully. To compound the problem, hospitals often need to have large quantities of each item on hand to maintain sterility and ensure adequate supply. 

If you don’t have an adequate medical instrument storage system, your workspace instruments storage area can become cluttered and disorganized, leading to delays and potential dangers for patients and health care workers alike. 

How Can You Store Instruments Safely?

A good medical instrument storage system must protect delicate instruments from damage while keeping them organized and close by. The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) requires medical instrument manufacturers to provide detailed guidelines, called Instructions for Use (IFUs), about the proper cleaning and sterilization of the instruments they produce. Sometimes these IFUs even include storage specifications. Whether or not that’s the case, you should always be mindful of the purpose and tolerances of specific instruments when designing the storage space for your medical facility. 

In many cases it’s necessary to maintain sterility of instruments in storage, for instance, by ensuring that sterile plastic packaging does not tear and contaminate single-use instruments. Smooth shelving, as opposed to rough or wired shelves, can help with this requirement, and our team of experts can help you identify other areas of concern. 

Be Mindful of Space

Hospitals and other health care facilities are often older buildings that have to make room for a lot of new equipment because the equipment changes with medical innovations. Patient care spaces also change and evolve. If the space becomes cluttered, medical professionals can trip or be delayed, impeding patient care, so it’s important to plan your medical instrument storage system with the space in mind. 

Some things to consider include:

• Is the storage system stationary or will it need to move from place to place?
• How can the storage system be designed so it’s out of the way, but the instruments stay close at hand?
• How many different kinds of instruments need to be stored, and in what quantities?

How SSI Can Help

Our expert consultants can work with your team to design an innovative medical instrument storage system that is customized to meet your unique needs. We offer configurable, high-density, and lateral shelving, modular bins, and a variety of lockers that can keep your medical instruments protected and easily accessible.

Contact us today to learn more about your options.