Being on the road a lot has its perks. Between flights, I get the opportunity to do a little research. My research, this time, was cyber-stalking dentists who share a variety of frustrations. “Why did I do that?” “I wish I would have done this.” “How can I make affordable improvements?” Yada yada yada…. I must say, I’m impressed with the responses. I’m seeing more and more dentists realizing side-cabinetry in their dental operatories is a colossal waste. Hooray!
Ergonomic Products 24" Storage InWall
The game is changing guys. To accommodate just one side cabinet the minimum width an operatory needs is 10 feet. If your plan is to equip your ops with full side-cabinetry (doctor and assistant), the minimum width of each op increases to 12 feet! Let’s think about that for a second. The Industry average (cookie cutter) room yield is 450 square feet per treatment room and costs over $50,000 to equip. In other words, if you told me you had 2200 square feet and asked how many operatories you could get into the space, the industry average would suggest 5.
The old cookie cutter style operatories with a 12’ x 12’ footprint is archaic. Dentists are waking up and realizing space is expensive. I could get into the Psychology of Space but that’s another blog. Let’s maximize your space while at the same time, increasing productivity. It’s called Consolidated Range of Motion. If you get everything you need to do dentistry out of cabinets, visible and accessible, imagine how productive you could be. I’m going to share a few secrets how.
There a 3 major bottlenecks in a dental practice: Sterilization, checkout and room turnaround. I’m going to address room turnaround in this blog. If side cabinets are removed, that’s two less surfaces at least 12” wide and 48” long to wipe down. Whew. What about access to materials, you say? Well, materials are consolidated and positioned strategically in your treatment room improving ergonomics by eliminating the need to bend, reach, stretch, twist, etc (check out my “Special Delivery” blog post). For gloves and masks storage, you need a solution that can provide easy access without clogging up your precious footprint. Got Walls? Then you’ve got a LOT of untapped space. Use it! The Ergonomic Product InWall Storage Cabinet is the answer.
The EP InWall Cabinets are built specifically for the dental environment. I mean you need a wall between the ops right? The width of this wall is 4”. Your EP InWall Storage solution is 3 and ⅞ “ and fits between wall joists. They are installed in a staggered fashion between ops without any impact on the operatory footprint. And they’re designed to hold glove boxes securely for one-handed access. And they can include a flip up place to write on! And they’re beautiful! And, and, and...
Ergonomic Products 32" Media InWall
Gloves and mask storage only brush the surface of EP InWall Operatory Solutions. Even more exciting is our 32” InWall Media Comfort Station. A cabinet? Exciting? No, is seriously is!! The InWall Media integrates the conveniences of a patient refreshment area (sink), storage for gloves and masks, while providing you the ability to access, process and present digital data. Using the space inside your walls means all this only takes up 11” of operatory width.
We’ve thought this through folks. By aggressively consolidating your materials, instruments and supplies, the need for side cabinetry becomes obsolete. Additionally, you’ve saved yourself a ton of space and a ton of money.
When is the last time you looked inside your side cabinets? Not sure if what I’m about to say with hurt my chances to work with you but I’m going to roll the dice. Get whatever you have stored or stocked in your side cabinetry and get it out! When I work with dental practices, this is the first test. Full disclosure - sometimes the dentist has to see it with his or her own eyes. But the response is always the same; dentists can live without their side cabinets and clinical staff will thank them!
