Sterile medical drapes are one-time use supplies providing shielding and a clean work zone during surgeries. These simple supplies come in a rather complex array of shapes and sizes -- nearly one for every surgery location on the human body.

I visited Emory Crawford Long Hospital in downtown Atlanta to learn more about sterile drapes. While in the bowels of the hospital's buzzing stock room, I photographed the hospital's organization method of hundreds of medical supplies. Labels identifying each type of sterile drape were hidden from view when stacked on the shelf. The labels themselves made it rather difficult to discern their type.

I interviewed hospital personnel who deal with stocking hundreds of surgical softgoods and instruments in preparation for surgery each day. Their responsibility includes filling surgery carts as directed by a list of standard items and those additional ones requested by the surgeon. The stock personnel told me that if an item is shelved incorrectly, it usually won't be caught until surgery time. This can lead to wasted time and cost of the sterile drapes. There was a clear opportunity to improve the product.

My solution for improving sterile drapes products was simple and involved two parts. The first was to develop a visual system of identification for the entire line of sterile drapes. Since stocking personnel are the ones gathering supplies for surgeries, clear and simple communication of the type of drape is necessary. Second, the location for the labeling would correspond to the method of shelving the products and therefore would be moved to the 'spine' of the package.