3 0 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • A P R I L 2 0 2 0
Looking to beef up your sterile
processing department? Here's
where to invest your dollars and
workforce.
• Superior staffing. Your first
focus should be to ensure repro-
cessing techs have what they
need to do the job correctly each
time. That includes education,
training, certification and a livable wage. In most states, the per-
son cutting your hair needs to complete a certification process,
yet the people sterilizing instrumentation used inside the human
body require nothing of the sort. Consider sending techs through
robust certification programs or formal training, and ensure you
have enough employees every day to limit the temptation to take
shortcuts to turn around instruments to keep pace with the OR
schedule.
• Plenty of instrumentation. When consulting, I frequently see
technicians being forced to skip a cleaning step or shorten a ster-
ilization cycle because they need to get an instrument set back to
the OR as soon as possible. Having enough instrumentation on
hand to last the entire day prevents this. You should ensure that
every patient receives that same standard of care, and that
includes making sure no shortcuts are taken in sterile process-
ing.
• Equipment for your needs. When I visit facilities, I always ask
if they're following instruments' IFUs during cleaning and disin-
REPROCESSING PRIORITIES
Secrets to Sterile Processing Success
• JOB DESCRIPTION Make sure properly trained techs
work with an adequate inventory of instruments.
