OR Manager March 2022 - 19

Human Resources
hands-on training and education to their
staff members on how to apply the standards
to their work at hand to have a
real impact on quality. "
Although SP makes efforts to ensure
corrective actions, it is valuable for the
OR to understand these challenges in
SP. This understanding should not lower
the expectations from the OR but instead
incentivize the OR and SP to collaborate
towards solutions.
Remediating expectations
To help remedy the departments' challenge
in trying to meet the imposed expectations
of instruments needs, our
education team implemented a " rounding
program. " Department technicians
were allowed to experience each team's
approach concerning the care and handling
of instrumentation. SP rounded
to a surgical case while the surgical
team opened the room to prepare for
the patient, and if the team/surgeon
permitted, the SP technician observed
the procedure.
The SP technician was able to ask
questions when appropriate and got to
observe firsthand the strain added to
the OR team when trays were missing
instruments upon opening the room.
During the case, the surgeon would
often show the SP technician how the
instruments were used during the procedure.
This provided value to the importance
of quality assurance steps taken
in the assembly process when assessing
the functionality of each instrument.
The outcomes were phenomenal and
served each team well. Both teams were
acquainted with one another and initiated
a higher-level working relationship.
SP observed how instruments were utilized,
demonstrated the rationales for
the importance of performing quality inspections,
and noted which items requested
on a count sheet were imperative
for the procedure to be successful.
Although traditional education for positions
held in each department is necessary,
practical application to obtain
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the knowledge/degree/certifications acquired
is imperative. Real-time exposure
and sharing department experiences
are valuable to overcoming expectation
gaps of department needs and providing
a quality instrument. If SP could share
the time allowances for processing and
practical steps taken to ensure quality
to the OR, they would have a real-time
expectation for a quality product to be
delivered.
In turn, to help ensure realistic expectations,
OR educators often coordinate
with SP for new OR team members
during the orientation to round to SP.
The OR staff is partnered with an SP
technician during this training opportunity.
SP demonstrates the processing
steps to achieve a clean and sterile instrument.
Beginning in decontamination,
they show how the contaminated items
in case carts arrive into the area and
then onto decontamination processes,
both manual and mechanical. During
this stage of processing, the OR staff
is exposed to environmental conditions,
the many steps to ensure an item is
cleaned, the importance of point-of-use
care, and the time it takes to ensure a
clean and disinfected instrument.
In the next processing stage, the OR
staff are exposed to the assembly area.
This stage demonstrates the quality
steps taken to ensure and clean a functional
item as well as steps to complete
one instrument tray. It also shows the
challenges for SP to identify missing
items from a tray, which helps OR staff
ensure that at the point-of-use, each
instrument is replaced into the tray from
which they received. The last stage of
processing is sterilization, which demonstrates
the time allowance for loading
carts, processing times for each
sterilization method, and proper cooling
times.
This OR to SP rounding process has
variable time requirements, depending
on each hospital orientation agenda.
I have witnessed OR team members
training in SP for all processing stages
from 1 day to 2 weeks. Whether a bit
of time or a lot, this exposure allows
team members from both departments
to get acquainted, have an appreciation
for the hard work SP performs each day,
and manage real-time expectations for
instrumentation.
Conclusion
Although we recognize the cultural differences
between our departments, OR
leaders have an opportunity to consider
their specific facility SP's constraints
and processes. This understanding will
help to serve the OR teams and surgeons
well.
Bridging the expectation gaps can
be accomplished by team members
rounding and engaging with each other.
This exposure to instrumentation touch
points by both departments will not only
allow for reasonable expectations but
increase the relationships of team members
to a conducive culture. We must do
what we can to implement opportunities
for practical engagement so we may
better serve our collective goal-the
patient. ORM
-Angela Lewellyn, LPN,
CRCST, CER, CHL, is
director of development
and research at Advantage
Support Services.
She has a combined 20
years of experience in
surgical services as a cross-trained
circulator / surgical scrub and as a
surgical technologist educator.
References
Nadeau K. The quest for quality in the
CS/SPD. Healthcare Purchasing
News. December 18, 2018.
Planning for patient safety in the sterile
processing department. Pure Processing.
September 27, 2021.
Todd S. What is workplace knowledge?
Open Sourced Workplace. August
24, 2021.
OR Manager | March 2022 19
https://www.hpnonline.com/sterile-processing/article/13001517/the-quest-for-quality-in-the-csspd https://www.pure-processing.com/planning-for-patient-safety-in-the-sterile-processing-department/ https://www.hpnonline.com/sterile-processing/article/13001517/the-quest-for-quality-in-the-csspd https://opensourcedworkplace.com/glossary/what-is-workplace-knowledge http://www.ormanager.com
OR Manager March 2022

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