Introducing Surgical Directions’ Central Sterile Processing Improvement Program

Are you the new Central Sterile Department’s (SPD) leader?

Have you been the leader for a while but find that you need a little guidance from a seasoned colleague? Do any of the below questions sound familiar?

• Are you managing your SPD or is it managing you?
• Do you have new CS management or does your current leader need guidance?
• Do you have a regulatory survey looming?
• Are you having quality issues from your CS service?

Sterile Processing is the heart of perioperative services. Without a functioning SPD, OR efficiencies and quality become questionable at best. Delays and cancellations of surgeries can occur if the correct instrumentation is not available at an appropriate time, or if defects are present in the instruments.

Patient safety and surgeon and staff satisfaction is threatened if:

• Instruments are unavailable
• Instruments are poorly maintained
• Quality is inadequately checked
• Instruments are decontaminated, processed, sterilized or stored inappropriately

Sometimes an SPD leader may start to feel overwhelmed by the multitude of conflicting priorities and daily challenges. Frustration from trying to do the best job possible but not succeeding due to lack of preparation or focus, is a quick route to burnout. This can have a knock-on effect for staff, leading to decreased employee engagement and high turnover rates.

No Sterile Processing leader nor technician comes to work intending to perform poorly. Most are dedicated and focused on providing the best service available to their customers and patients.

If any of these things sound familiar to you, Surgical Directions is here to help.

We offer an intensive eight week leadership mentoring program that provides one-on-one coaching at your hospital site for 1 ½ days per week with remote support. We take the department through an assessment and work closely with the leaders and staff to turn the department around in a rapid improvement program.

Our Program Highlights

• An intense department review of processes and procedures utilizing the Surgical Directions CS Management Guideline including:  
  • Daily operations; general department conditions and cleanliness, staff attire, traffic flows, etc.
  • Plant and maintenance needs including; planned preventive maintenance schedule and equipment cleaning and quality checks
  • A complete review and goal-setting based upon findings for all areas
  • Staff competency, orientation and engagement
  • Regulatory requirements
  • Quality
  • Communication
  • Customer Service
  • Department policies and practices

1. We provide a weekly program on-site visit during which the consultant will work alongside the department leader to motivate, educate and lead the transformation
2. Six and eight week calendar of objectives will be developed
3. A Performance Improvement Team will be utilized to motivate staff and to disseminate program decisions
4. The CS leader will have an outline of annual, monthly, weekly and daily monitoring parameters
5. Resources will be provided to the department leader to help prioritize and execute their work wisely

Our unique offering is supported by experienced perioperative leaders with comprehensive knowledge of operating room process flow that have established processes to work within the perioperative arena. The Surgical Directions leader will provide strategic goals to meet the OR demands of CPD and will establish and nurture a cohesive relationship between the departments that will enable success.