When your fridge at home is messy, you might be slightly embarrassed to have guests grab their own refreshments. However, in a laboratory setting, a disorganized clinical freezer or refrigerator is more than just a minor inconvenience. In fact, you might be damaging some of the contents by leaving the door open while struggling to find what you need. To organize the appliance and optimize your workflow, use the following tips.

How to Arrange a Clinical Freezer or Fridge

1. Organize by Shelf

In a lab refrigerator, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the assortment of vials and samples cluttering each corner. To avoid giving up on the project completely, take it one shelf at a time. If you have enough of the same item, reserve an entire shelf for one category, such as enzymes.

2. List & Label

As you sort through the contents of your clinical freezer, take inventory of the individual items and denote potential groupings. This way, if there are several categories with just a few items, you can group them in a miscellaneous area. While it might be easier to take handwritten notes at first, transfer these to a digital format that you can update over time, such as a spreadsheet. Then, use the inventory list to make labels for each shelf and create more specific groupings within them.

3. Use Other Classification Devices

Your freezer or refrigerator probably wasn’t custom-made for your daily operations. As a result, you may be storing small items on a large shelf, which makes it all the easier for neat rows to descend into chaos. In some cases, your appliance might benefit from other organizational tools, such as a rotating circular platform for containers that tend to topple over when you reach past them.

Also, invest in smaller, expanding shelves that can divide a larger shelf in two. That way, you don’t have to stack dishes or bottles on top of one another, which makes it impossible to retrieve the items on the bottom row without first removing those above.

If you’re looking for a new clinical freezer or refrigerator that meets your needs, turn to Midwest Medical Systems of Dayton, OH. They cater to clients throughout Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and Kentucky, and they have over three decades of experience distributing top-quality supplies. Whether you need mobile computing carts, barrier isolators, or pharmacy casework, visit the website to learn more about their offerings. Call (800) 762-7722 to speak with a representative about your needs.