A modular approach to “no-ladder exchange” privacy curtains? Here’s why we developed our QuickLoad solution together with the help of our awesome customers!
Following the pandemic and having first hand observed the downstream consequences of US ceiling-mounted cubicle tracks we knew we had to come up with cost-saving solutions that helped facilities exchange their patient curtains safely and on time.
The current scenario creates a tremendous burden as exchanging a curtain entails a trip to the basement (trying to figure out what curtain height, width, and pattern to grab!!), finding a ladder, and having to install with arms stretched overhead grommet, by grommet…
Over time, in response to this issue, various retrofit “no ladder” curtain exchange solutions such as snap mesh, rods, as well as ones deploying special tools to bring the curtain down came into the market.
Note that one should probably further distinguish between these solutions as either “100%” (such as rods), or “pseudo” no ladder. This as with a snap mesh curtain for instance staff will still need to get on ladders to exchange the mesh so that it can be laundered. Solutions requiring special tools may face a scenario where the tool gets lost resulting in staff having to get on ladders yet again.
No matter the approach, the one thing we noticed is that all these solutions deploy a standardized curtain size. Unfortunately one size does NOT fit all and this scenario creates it’s own set of issues as they always require anywhere from 2-5 curtain panels per track snapped together.
After talking with lots of facilities, we learned that the “one size fits all” approach resulted in them having:
- A low “PER CURTAIN” cost but a very high “PER TRACK” cost
- To laboriously snap curtain panels together; staff complaining about discomfort and shoulder/back strains
- Material waste such as a 12′ track requiring 2-3 panels, resulting in 5-6 feet of extra curtain (stack & unnecessary curtain material)
This is why our QuickLoad solution takes a “modular” approach instead offering 4 sizes along with a 100% no ladder exchange for both reusable and recyclable curtains:
- Customers realized up to 60% cost savings with immediate ROI
- 50-70% less handling and inventorying of curtains
- <5-minute retrofit; the rods install on existing tracks
- 1-minute single panel install; significant time savings vs snapping together (unwrapping) 2-5 panels
- Zero material waste, curtains are designed to fit US tracks
- Eliminates mesh (along with laundering & replacement costs)
- Eliminates unsightly gaps in between curtains + curtains getting unsnapped
Interested in getting your staff 100% off ladders, save money, and automating curtain documentation with curtain protocol software? Contact us to schedule a side by side demo!
