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| Guidelines
for wall mounting hangers, racks and holders for arm boards, arm
board cushions and other equipment in the operating room and special
procedure areas |
| Careful attention to the equipment storage aspects
of the organization of the operating room and other procedure areas
will yield several benefits. Deciding on the most convenient location
for keeping frequently used equipment deserves some thought. We
have observed that experienced hospital architects cannot guess
this aspect very well. The best decisions can be made only as the
rooms are used and the work flow patterns can be observed. Many
of our customers who have studied this situation in depth, have
found it more beneficial to store arm boards, arm board cushions
and select other equipment on both sides of the operating table.
The results of this effort can aid setup efficiency and allow instant
awareness of a missing item. Your valuable equipment can be kept
off of the floor and protected from damage. It can also promote
faster and more efficient room cleanup.
Experience suggests that ease of use is best served if the centerline of the rack is above the floor at least 36 inches, but not more than 60 inches. Check the hanging height of the equipment to be stored and allow floor mopping clearance. The rack should be mounted over a panel of .040 to .060 inch thick Kydex (or other high impact flame and smoke retarded material). This will protect the wall when equipment is accidentally slammed into it. This panel should extend from several inches above and to either side of the rack, down to the top of the cove protection at the base of the wall. (Cushion holders do not require wall protection.) With the help of your plant engineering personnel, determine the construction of the walls of your rooms on which these items are to be mounted. In current construction practice, walls are usually drywall over metal studs. The studs are usually on 16 or 24 inch centers, but the spacing will vary around wall features which do not fall on multiples of these dimensions. The normal abuse that the racks will suffer makes it important to mount them through to studs. The stud centers should be accurately verified for each mounting location. Do not assume that they will be the same. We will furnish the units drilled and countersunk with the mounting location (room and wall) stamped on the back. This may seem like a bit of extra fussing on your part and ours, but in this way we can insure a sturdy installation that will go smooth and not require attention in the future. The mounting hardware will be supplied and for drywall over metal stud construction, it will consist of 2 inch long, l/4-20 stainless steel flathead (i.e. countersunk) machine screws. The receiver in the wall will be Toggler brand retained toggle bolts, which require a 1/2 inch diameter hole. (The double cushion holder requires four fasteners and would use a smaller number 10 screw if a smaller hole in the wall could be used. However, the #10 Toggler still requires a ½ inch diameter hole.) Low strength (blue) Locktite will be supplied to be applied to the machine screws at installation to prevent them from jiggling loose during use. Any length and configuration of a storage rack can be supplied, but the one most often requested has four stainless steel pegs and is 26 inches long (for 16 inch stud centers or block walls) or 28 inches long (for 24 inch stud centers). Unless otherwise requested, the two mounting holes will be symmetrically placed about the rack center. Caution – the available space and stud locations could dictate something else. The bottoms of the cushion holders should be at least 40 inches above the floor. At that height, instrument tables and most stands that might be shoved against the wall won’t risk snagging the cushions. The holders should not be mounted so high that a short person might have to struggle to remove the cushions. If they must be placed above a rack, try to allow 10 inches between them. In drywall over metal stud construction with 16 inch stud spacing, the double cushion holder has wide side flanges to allow direct mounting (the total width of the unit is 16 ¾ inches). For mounting in situations in which the stud spacing is greater than 16 inches (or in block construction), the double cushion holder is made 15 inches wide. For the greatest abuse resistance with wider stud spacing, it may be mounted to ¼ x 1 inch stainless steel adapter bars of the necessary length to stretch between studs. In this case, the lateral position of the holder along the adapter bars should be specified. For example, if at a particular location, the stud centers are 22 inches, the additional information required might be “holder left/right centered “ or perhaps “left edge of holder skewed 2 inches to the right (or even to the left) of the left stud center.” If necessary, the single cushion holder may be mounted with just two fasteners to the same stud top and bottom (via adapter bars to assure that the inside is smooth). It should then also be noted as left/right centered or, for example, “skew holder 2 ½ inches to the right of the stud center.” For cushion holders (but not equipment racks) there is a simpler
and less expensive mounting choice. It is suitable if you are
reasonably confident that they are to be in a location in which
they won’t be hit by other equipment. It is safest if the
bottoms of these holders are still situated at least 40 inches
above the floor. In this case the recommendation for stud mounting
may be relaxed (though good practice would urge that one side
still be mounted to a stud if possible). The adapter bars could
be eliminated and direct wall mounting could be used. This would
allow greater flexibility in locating the units. Further, mounting
dimensions do not have to be determined in advance. Both double
and single cushion holders would use four fasteners. |