Reducing Steps, Not Standards

Ending “Sneaker Time” with High-Density, Small-Footprint Storage

“Sneaker time” is the distance—or steps—that nurses travel during a shift, much of it spent searching for supplies. In one recent study, nurses logged an average of 3.5 miles over 8 hours. During especially busy shifts, that number can climb significantly, with some nurses reporting 15–20 miles in a 12-hour shift. 

Medical supply carts are often stored in hallways as part of an effort to decentralize care that once relied on a central supply room. But even with this shift, the time and steps required to retrieve and return supplies still pull nurses away from the bedside—limiting time spent on direct patient care. 

Nurses are asked to work faster to compensate. But moving faster doesn’t improve efficiency. It just invites mistakes and contributes to burnout. 

Providing clinicians with supplies at the point of care improves efficiency, reduces errors, promotes a calmer patient environment, and keeps the focus where it belongs: on the patient. It also answers a critical operational question: how to reduce nurse travel distance with mobile supply carts in a way that is sustainable and scalable across units. 

So what if we reimagined where supplies live? What if low-profile medical supply carts were located inside the procedure room? What if storage and workflows were designed around minimizing steps and maximizing patient care time?

The Physics of the Procedure Room

Traditional suture carts and procedure carts are often too large to fit in procedure rooms. As a result, they’re stored in hallways—forcing staff to move in and out of the room to retrieve supplies.

If you mapped that movement, it would look like a tangled mess—what process engineers call a spaghetti map. Lines loop out of the room, down the hall, and back again. It’s visual proof of inefficiency and a tool often used to redesign workflows and eliminate unnecessary movement in healthcare environments. 

Medical carts with small footprints and high storage capacity change that dynamic. Their compact design allows supplies to live inside the procedure room rather than in the hallway. 

Instead of forcing staff to leave the room, the supplies are within arm’s reach—eliminating the spaghetti map and keeping clinicians where they belong: at the bedside, focused and responsive. 

Small Footprint, Big Impact

The challenge isn’t just getting carts into the room—it’s making sure they hold everything needed once they’re there.

Modern medical supply carts are designed with this balance in mind: compact on the outside, high-density on the inside. This approach—next-to-no wasted space: maximizing medical cart interior volume—ensures that every inch of the cart is working to support clinical care. 

The Innerspace Roam Suture Cart, for example, is designed to accommodate a full range of suture sizes. Optional pull-out suture modules provide fast access without disturbing other boxes, keeping everything within reach. 

You’re not just moving a cart into the room—you’re effectively moving the supply room to the bedside.

Intuitive by Design

Once supplies are within reach, organization becomes the next priority. 

Searching for supplies—even briefly—increases cognitive load and pulls attention away from patient care. Knowing how to set up procedure carts for standard workflows is what turns access into efficiency. 

Carts should present a clear, consistent layout that keeps search time to a minimum—ideally one second. A clutter-free layout relies on clear sightlines and visual cues, allowing for immediate identification without having to sift through inventory.

Standardization is key. By taking a systematic approach, medical supply carts can look identical across units—ensuring a procedure cart in one wing matches the cart in another.

Experienced nurses often rely on muscle memory to work efficiently. They know where supplies are, where backups are kept, and how to navigate inconsistencies. But there’s a catch: the average turnover rate for registered nurses is high–around 27%–meaning many nurses don’t stay in one role long enough to develop that level of familiarity. 

That makes standardization essential. 

When carts are consistent, even new nurses can quickly build familiarity and confidence. Innerspace Pace Procedure Carts support the development of muscle memory with modular layouts and clear organization, reducing the mental effort required to locate and retrieve supplies. By utilizing human-centric design, these carts ensure that every supply is located exactly where the hand naturally reaches.

The one-second search should be the norm—not the exception.

Safety in Seconds

In a high-stress ‘Code Blue’ environment, there is no time for a scavenger hunt. In routine care, inefficiency is frustrating. In an emergency, it’s critical. 

True safety in emergency cart design comes from a predictable, standardized layout—specifically one that follows the Airway, Breathing, and Circulation (ABC) sequence. Organizing every cart on every floor according to these clinical priorities enables the team to focus entirely on the patient rather than opening multiple drawers to find the right supplies.

Research on code cart standardization shows how cart organization reduces errors and improves response time. Innerspace Pace Crash Carts, also known as code carts, are designed with efficiency in mind:

• Flexible configurations for improved visibility
• Configurable drawers that reduce wasted space
• Exterior accessory options to keep essential equipment at the point of care

When staff is forced to spend more time retrieving supplies, response time increases and outcomes can suffer.  When every second counts, reducing movement isn’t just efficient—it’s critical.

Measure What Matters

Efficiency isn’t measured by how quickly staff move through their day. It’s measured by how few steps are required to deliver optimal care. 

A simple way to evaluate this is through a “step audit.” Observe a procedure and count how many times staff leave the room to retrieve supplies. If the number is greater than zero, there’s an opportunity to improve.

The right medical supply carts don’t just store supplies—they reshape workflow, reduce unnecessary movement, and help bring the focus back to what matters most: patient care.