Sterilization Station: A Sterile Processing Empowerment Podcast
Welcome to "Sterile Processing Empowerment Podcast, the podcast dedicated to elevating the field of sterile processing and surgical services! In an industry where precision and care intersect, we believe that knowledge is power. Our mission is to empower, encourage, and motivate every professional engaged in the transformative world of healthcare.
Join us each week as we delve into enlightening discussions that shine a light on best practices, emerging innovations, and the critical role sterile processing plays in patient safety. Whether you're a seasoned expert or just starting your journey, our panels and expert guests will provide invaluable insights through engaging conversations and real-world stories.
From the nuances of instrument handling to the latest in sterilization techniques, we cover it all. Expect thought-provoking interviews, educational segments, and motivating content designed to inspire you to elevate your craft. Together, let’s foster a community that champions excellence in surgical services and celebrates the unsung heroes of healthcare.
Tune in to where expertise meets passion, and every episode empowers you to make a difference in the operating room and beyond.
Sterilization Station: A Sterile Processing Empowerment Podcast
Fighting Burnout in Sterile Processing
Burnout in sterile processing is a silent epidemic affecting the healthcare heroes who ensure every surgical instrument is safe for patient use. What causes dedicated SPD professionals to reach their breaking point, and how can we create more sustainable work environments?
In this candid conversation with sterile processing thought leader Hank Balch, founder of Beyond Clean, we dive deep into the ten most common factors contributing to burnout in SPD departments nationwide. From the crushing weight of understaffing to the psychological impact of constant high-stakes work, Hank shares insights gained from years leading departments and advocating for the profession.
The discussion takes an unexpected turn when Hank challenges conventional wisdom about certification as the primary path for career advancement in sterile processing. "We've been singing that song for 50 years," he notes, suggesting that the industry has perhaps placed too much emphasis on certification alone while overlooking other pathways for recognition and growth.
Leaders will find practical guidance for creating burnout-aware cultures through transparency, appropriate accountability, and recognition of both professional and personal challenges. Meanwhile, frontline technicians will discover validation for their experiences and strategies for protecting their well-being while continuing to perform critical patient safety work.
Whether you're feeling the effects of burnout yourself or leading a team through challenging times, this episode offers both understanding and actionable solutions. Share it with your colleagues, managers, or anyone who needs to hear that they're not alone in this essential but often overlooked healthcare field. The fight against burnout in sterile processing starts with acknowledging the problem and coming together as a community to support one another.
Sterile processing professionals are the invisible backbone of patient safety, but behind the scenes, many are struggling in silence Long hours, tight deadlines and high stakes. Pressure can take a heavy toll, and today we're talking about it on the sterilization station. So in this episode we sit down with Hank Balts of Beyond Clean to break down the 10 most common reasons for burnout in sterile processing and what we can do to fight back. Let's get real honest and hopefully recharge, Really excited today to have Hank Balch here. This is, for me, it's just so surreal to actually have him here. He's been such an instrumental person, a mentor and just someone I really highly look up to, as well as many people in the field, and so, Hank, just glad to have you here today.
Speaker 2:Yeah, bill. Yeah, appreciate the invite. Really excited to see what you put together here with the podcast series and, you know, looking forward to having some hot takes on the topic of burnout with you today. Thank, you?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I appreciate it. So, just if you don't mind, maybe you could give a little bit of a history about you know, your career path into sterile processing and kind of how. What led you to where you are today.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I got an undergrad in agricultural development from Texas A&M University and then I went to grad school, actually to go to seminary to study theology. And it was when I was in seminary, maybe first or second year, I had a second shift job at the local Walmart. So I was stocking shelves. You know, that's great, it was a good job. Love my coworkers.
Speaker 2:I had a college degree and I was in grad school and I was like man, like I'm, I'm stocking shelves at Walmart. I didn't have to go to school to do this job and so I had a buddy that helped a guy move and that guy happened to be a supervisor in a sterile processing department and so he was talking to my buddy, they were hiring. My buddy got a job and then a couple weeks later I was like hey, let me know, because I'd love to do something else besides stocking shelves here. And yeah, one thing led to another and I got a job in a department that I'd never heard of before. I was working second shift because I was going to school in the morning and, like a lot of us, had no intention to stay in sterile processing. It was just the job to get me through a season of life. But about four years later, after I graduated with my master's, I was in law school. At that point I realized, a year and a half in, that I did not want to be an attorney.
Speaker 2:And so I turned my eyes on this job that I'd just been working with no plans to make it a career, and I said you know what would it look like if I actually gave this thing a run? And I took my first manager job in 2013,. Became a director in 2015 at Kentucky, directed the Kentucky One Health System out there, and then we moved our family to Texas and to San Antonio and took a director job there. And it was in San Antonio 2016 into 2017, that I was nominated and ran for president of what was then ISHM, which is now HSPA. Anyone who knows my story knows that I lost that election and it was tight. We had to do a rerun. That's how tight it was.
Speaker 2:But I lost and that summer I was sitting around thinking like, well, what do I do now? Because I had this career growth, this career trajectory, a lot of momentum coming in, a lot of supporters who wanted the vision I was casting for the future of sterile processing. But I kind of got the door closed in my face and this random guy through LinkedIn, kind of like you, bill, he just reached out and didn't know him from Adam and he said hey, I've been following you on LinkedIn. Hank, have you ever thought about doing a podcast about sterile processing? One thing led to another. I said let's do it, and we launched Beyond Clean in 2017, which kind of lit its own little revolutionary fire out there. And then here we are today, in 2025. So yeah, long story, and that's as short as I can possibly make it.
Speaker 1:It's just amazing, especially being someone that's followed your journey and always been such an advocate of Beyond Clean, because it's been such a great resource that helps all of the SB departments and any of the units that we serve.
Speaker 1:So I'm just really excited to have you. I love to hear the history and it's really interesting because I remember sitting in the pandemic I was working at a hospital that was really toxic, a lot of burnout, and I remember just as kind of a part of my why for starting this podcast I really wanted to have something that could really empower the mindset and how to really navigate your thoughts through some of the challenges that I know that I faced as a tech for 20 years, and so that's kind of what led me to starting what I call as an empowerment podcast is to really empower the mindset and the heart of sterile processors. So, discussing the 10 reasons for burnout and SPD definitely wanted to dive into this and interested to hear your thoughts about. You know, like number one, we have understaffing in the workload and sterile processing, and so how do you, how do you feel? Short staffing sets the stage for chronic exhaustion and SPD because of this.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you know, just so the audience is aware, this is Bill's top 10. Okay, these are not necessarily Hank's top 10. So, yeah, we're talking through your list, which is great and that's fine, but I want to make sure people know that. So take a step back. We may have been getting to this later in the interview, I don't know, but I want to say on the out front that if you're listening to this episode and you feel burned out, we're going to talk through the reasons why here and going to talk through, you know, the reasons why here and I'll give some insight on the why behind that. But I also want to tell some of you guys, hey, if you're really burned out, that could be a signal that this is not the place for you, and that is okay. I don't know who told you or pressured you or, you know, tricked you into getting a job in serial processing, but if you're hating life and you're hating the department and you hate the role and you hate the vision for what we're doing, that's okay. Guys, there's nothing like it doesn't matter. Like maybe you got the certification, maybe you got the degree, hey, change gears, shift gears, go do something else. Like you do not have to stay here. If it's a job where you feel no more passion, no more drive, like this is just not who you are, that's okay. Now, if you still have the passion and you want the passion and you want to be here like you did go to school and you feel like this is where you need to be, but you're just broken and burned out and spun out and strung out and all the other outs, then, yes, everything else that we're going to talk about in this interview is the kind of thing that you need here, because we don't want to lose the good ones, we don't want to lose the ones that want to be here, but because they've been chewed up and spit out, they feel like they just can't anymore. Those are the ones that we want to talk through and, like you said, bill, we want to empower. Say that little caveat on the front side.
Speaker 2:Your question was hey, a big part of burnout is just understaffing. Yeah, and that is not only true for techs. Obviously, it's the techs that feel it, because if you used to have 10 people on your shift and now you're down to eight and then you go down to six and that seems to be the stabilized number that you've been working under for the past year and a half, you feel the difference. I mean one person is a big difference. If you're short staff, you can feel the one and you start feeling two or three and that multiplies, especially for your skeleton shift goes down to like a couple of bones, not even a full skeleton shift, and they're all there by himself. I mean all of that just spins and spins, and spins.
Speaker 2:So, yes, the lift, the techs get huge, but what people don't give enough credit to is the leadership impact of being short-staffed, especially good leaders that can burn them out as well. They may not be the ones covering all the shifts, but all the dynamics, all the cultural dynamics, all the workflow, all the errors and everything else that comes up that lands squarely on the shoulders of the leaders, and they also can experience the same level of questioning and doubt, mental burnout and whatnot. So yeah, huge, huge implication, and that's probably a good number one to put on your list, bill.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, I think that's great and I really love the way you opened up the episode too, because I was even thinking that in some cases sterile processing is not the end all be all for everyone and sometimes it is entry level and it can lead to like a career. You know, there's definitely a career path in sterile processing if you want to take that. But I love that you added that in because that was something I was going to mention, but for the end, but sorry that was great.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, no, no no, no, it's good, because I do feel too that, you know, sometimes sterile processing is not a good fit for everybody, and that's okay, at least that you know that. So, and you're right, this is this is bills 10 here that's right that's that. That's okay. Yeah, that actually does kind of make me want to ask the question like you know, is what, like kind of like, what is I mean? I do want to go through my 10, but what it takes.
Speaker 2:I think it's good thanks okay, we'll do that, okay.
Speaker 1:So I also feel like you know that sometimes a lack of recognition or respect can be something that really can affect a person and can lead to burnout, and was wondering, like what are your thoughts about that and what does that have to do with burnout, or does it have anything to do with burnout?
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's another great one. I think it's probably twofold, and I would break this down into two different categories of employees. Right? So you got your high performers, and if they're performing at a high level, most likely this is not the first job that they've been high performers at, and so they have experienced some kind of recognition in the past, because you don't keep being a high performer if you don't feed off of recognition. So they've got it somewhere. They know what it feels like, and so if they're not getting it at your department and they're high performers, it really undermines everything about that high performance.
Speaker 2:Now there's intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. I'm sure that you've talked to on your show before, but that is that internal motivation. Intrinsic motivation is what drives people outside of any kind of recognition. A lot of us high performers we have that. We're going to do good, we're going to perform, no matter what. However, even if you're driven intrinsically to do well and to perform well, you still notice if you're not getting recognized, not like you're blind to those things, and that still has a mental impact on you.
Speaker 2:So number one lack of recognition can actually take your high performers and make them jaded, make them angry. It can actually make them not even high performers anymore, because they decide listen, I'm not, if no one is noticing, why am I killing myself? But the second category is, if you've got these medium to low performers who, with the correct recognition, you can bring them up to be high performers, all they need is a little bit of push. All they need is a little bit of additional motivation to say hey, bill, you're doing a good job. I know you're struggling in some places, but you're out there trying, man, we can improve this.
Speaker 2:Instead, though, if they're not getting any recognition, all you're doing is kind of feeding that back to them and saying, yeah, don't even worry about trying, don't worry about improving, don't worry about anything that's going wrong, don't worry about anybody else that's maybe slowing you down or tripping you up, because literally nothing matters here, because no one's getting praised.
Speaker 2:Well, you can't be surprised. Then that whole common denominator of your performance starts to take a hit, which then, going back, and all these are going to kind of feed on one another as we go through the list. If you're short staffed and the staff you have there, some of which used to be high performers and now they're not even performing that high anymore and your low to mid performers don't even have a desire to to try to be more efficient, to try to be quicker, to try to have a higher quality. If a lack of recognition is taking that desire from them, it just continues that vicious cycle of burnout. So of course people leave or even worse, sometimes they stay and they're mentally checked out and they don't want to be here and they don't want to do all the things that I've been saying, that it really takes to be a high performer.
Speaker 1:That's really excellent. I know there's two people that come to mind. I won't mention their name, but I noticed that when they worked with me, they were barely get buyers right. And then I'm like you know, so-and-so is like did you hear so-and-so? He's a supervisor, and I almost fall out of my chair like what Are you serious? But he found an environment to where he felt that, you know, his work was being recognized and he was getting that, you know, the recognition that he felt he deserved.
Speaker 2:So that's just always always been amazing.
Speaker 1:But now, when we talk about repetitive or like high stakes work which we know is sterile, processing, it's we are doing the same tasks over and over again, and then the work that we do is high stake, where you know we're fighting, like you would always say, we fight dirty. That we do is high stake, where you know we're fighting, like you would always say we fight dirty. We're destroying microorganisms and just the potential that even the employees are put in for you know, just being around you know sharp instruments around, microorganisms, stuff like that.
Speaker 1:What impact does doing the same task over and over, under pressure, have on the mind?
Speaker 2:right, and the pressure that you're mentioning kind of alluding to is, you know, life and death. It's, uh, it's a difference between healing or ongoing, like you know, chronic disease or infection that we may. So like you may not die, but you may suffer if, if you get transmitted a disease. We were just doing a podcast the other day and we were talking about some of the deadly bugs that can be passed on if we're not doing our job in decon, and it's like hepatitis B, hepatitis C, ac, diff, like it's all those that are very, very scary. So, yes, every single day, every shift and every instrument tray, we're operating with this kind of this burden on our shoulders. And then you got the speed component, and then you got the complexity, and, and then you got the complexity and a detail component. Like you said again and again and again and not everyone is naturally built to deal with that and this goes back to what I said before you may want to be in healthcare and you may love, like, taking care of patients. There's other ways to do that besides sterile processing. There's other jobs in healthcare for you to check all those other boxes that you love and that you're naturally good at than under pressure repetitively, always getting every tray right every single time and all the details, and that's what you're saying. So you know, some of the burnout in that point is not because anything's bad about the process. That's just the job. We got a lot of surgeries, got a lot of nuance, got a lot of complexity and you're just going to have to operate in that environment. So in that case the ones who get burned down are the ones whose personalities may just not fit the role.
Speaker 2:That being said, in that spectrum you don't necessarily have to love the repetitive tray. I know people who are far above. They love being the dispatcher or the case coordinator, because your day is always different, the calls are always different, the room deliveries are always different. You're not sitting there saying tray again and again and again and again, like you would be on table. Some of that burnout can be navigated, I think, just on the assignment areas or your specializations in the department. There are certain departments who have, you know, different roles, like quality coordinator or instrument coordinator. I've even been in departments that have like a database or like a tracking system specialist. That's great because you still get to do all the things you love about sterile processing. But if that under pressure repetitive nature of sterile processing is not your thing, you can remove part of that burnout potential and then still shine in those other places where you know maybe you got a better natural skill set.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, that's really good. I think that's excellent. It's really good. As we talk about poor communication between departments when the OR and SPD don't align, does this affect people doing the work, and could this be something that's associated with burnout as well?
Speaker 2:That's an understatement. Yes, it definitely impacts clinical educators and where we are especially like, we've got a platform called First Case. Who, instead of our audience beyond clean beans, sterile processing? Our audience on First Case is the OR. It's the OR nurses, it's circulators, it's surgical techs. They're the ones that like when SPD is like, hey, like the OR has poor communication, well, I got another brand, it's like well, yeah, they're saying SPD has got poor communication and like you guys should let me know X, Y and Z, y'all should have followed up on the turnover Like why can't you get this tray right, right, so like I'm hearing it from both sides now.
Speaker 2:So it's been really, it's been really insightful through the years now to understand it a little bit better about what's going on. And I bring that up to say I think our temptation in sterile processing is to get really defensive and to say I can't believe those OR people treat me that way. And I will be the first to tell you I have seen some really rude and unacceptable communication from the OR. I mean really despicable kind of stuff, like completely disrespectful, dehumanizing, horrible stuff. That being said, I have seen just as rude, just as disrespectful, just as hateful, just as mocking kind of communication coming from SPD to OR and it's kind of like if you've got kids, you understand this At some point when your kids are arguing or whatever else. It didn't matter who started it, guys, stop it, right, right, stop it and chill and let's reset.
Speaker 2:And a lot of our departments they get so culturally ingrained through like years and years of this where just like, yeah, well, 27 years ago Judy called me with a rude voice from the OR and I'll never forgive her, or now anyone else that works in the OR, and so it's a battle, it's battle royale anytime I answer the phone and unfortunately it's our technicians who get caught up in that, in the drama and the bad communication. And yes, there's a lot of toxic environments out there that just contribute to the. Why do I want to clock in every day and get cussed at or blamed inappropriately from another department if I can get a lot of other jobs where that's not the case? So short answer is absolutely that does contribute.
Speaker 1:That's really good, because I've seen both sides as well. I've seen nurses that were just. I mean I remember a situation where a nurse was just. I mean it was like next level unprofessional. The blankety, blank blanks were coming out. But then I've seen sterile processors that are the same. So I think it's just a matter of, like you said, sometimes you do have to do the reset or call the timeout. So that was really excellent what you were saying there. Yeah, and then like not having a clear career path, and sometimes their processors feel like there's nowhere to grow or they feel kind of like stuck in their job. Do you think that this is also another factor that might contribute to burnout in SPD?
Speaker 2:Oh, bill, this is one of my hot takes. I promise you hot takes. I have to begin this interview, so this is going to be a hot take, and this is a personal opinion of Hank. I think our industry has done ourselves a disservice when it comes to career path, and I'm going to blame the certification mindset. Now, take this with a grain of salt, like anyone who doesn't know me. If this is your first time hearing this random guy with a Texas accent, hang here with me.
Speaker 2:I am one of the biggest educational advocates for ongoing education you're ever going to find in the industry. That's how Beyond Clean made our name. We've got the largest, I think, ce library in the world for continuing education credits in this space, we've created micro-credentials. So, like, I've got a resume that says I love and I value education in sterile processing, however, and I've got all resume that says I love and I value education in sterile processing, however, and I've got all four of the available certifications through HSPA right. So I'm the golden crown. Another long story for another day. But it was our department in Louisville, kentucky, home of the Derby, that coined the phrase the triple crown, back when there was just three certifications. We're the ones that came up with that entire phrase and then eventually issue an HSPA, coined it and ran with it. So, yes, we are big believers in certification.
Speaker 2:However, I think we have fooled ourselves and tricked ourselves and we have bought a lie that certification is growth or is the tool that's going to solve all of the industry problems. Get certified, and that'll help you grow. Get certified, that'll help us get paid more. Get certified, that's going to get us more recognition. Well, bill, 50 years ago, we've been singing that song. For 50 years, certification has been available to the US in sterile processing. For many, many more years not 50, but for many more years we've been going to Capitol Hill. We've been going to state capitals, been advocating spending dollars, our dollars that we pay every year to go and lobby to pass these state regulations.
Speaker 2:And yet here we are in 2025 on this empowerment podcast, saying, man, but like it's really hard to do career growth. Well, I personally believe if we would just say, hey, like certification is great, there's a lot of good things about it, but it ain't the magical key that we pretend it is to career growth and opportunity recognition and higher pay. Ain't that? It's got to be something else. We got to look in different places and be creative and work hard and, you know, think outside this little certification box.
Speaker 2:That's not a popular opinion, because we've got a whole industry that's built around a certification mindset and a lot of people have personal experiences. They got certified and so this is how they got this job or whatever else. But I'm telling you, at scale, if you look across the industry, we got a lot of people and this is really disheartening on the burnout piece. We got a lot of people, especially these new graduates from like these certification training programs that get certified, and then they're like oh, the world's not opening up to me. I still can't find a job.
Speaker 2:I'm certified. Y'all have all told me, everyone has told me, that if I get certified it's just all like all the blessings it's going to flow down from heaven and I'm going to get paid a hundred thousand dollars a year. Or if I get another certification, like if I get three or all four, then I'm going to be this big director. That ain't reality, y'all, and I'll be the first one to tell you, and I've been saying this for a while. I think it's because we kind of fooled ourselves. We put too much stock into this one pathway for industry growth and recognition, and I will be happy if and when the industry ever wakes up and says, hmm, this hasn't worked in 50 years. Maybe it's time to try something else.
Speaker 2:So that's a hot take.
Speaker 1:No, I love that and I love the passion and the fire. That kind of that was like the lion that wakes up in the hay and he's like. He's like you know. I love that because you know, and I'll be honest, I have the CHL and I have the CRCST and I don't desire to get more.
Speaker 1:The reason why is because environment is key to growth being in the right environment and being under leadership that sees and seizes the opportunity Right. And so if you have a growth mindset versus a fixed mindset, the growth mindset is you put me in an environment I think through lean, I think through valued, centered solutions, or I look at how can I improve based upon what's present, and so I think opportunities kind of call yourself. And I like the motivational speaker, les Brown, how he says it's better to be ready for the opportunity than to have the opportunity to not be prepared. So I think, as a technician, certification is important, but you also have to be looking around you like what can you do? Like Karen Cherry was a great mentor. I ran into her. She was an intro manager for one year, met her. She became my first mentor.
Speaker 1:Never challenged my mindset was never challenged in sterile processing, I just did the job, didn't even know why I did the job at that time in 2007, but I was a button pusher right Until I met Karen Cherry and she began to ask me questions and she began to inspire me to really think about it and she opened my mindset up and so ever since then I looked at sterile processing different. I asked the questions why do we do that? When they were doing in-services or fixing the machines, I was that head around the shoulder, like look here, like what are you doing?
Speaker 2:Why are you?
Speaker 1:taking that part off. What does that part do? Why does that? So I think that you're totally right. It's really the mindset that you have to want to grow. You're going to look for those opportunities and if you like Karen would always say, if you want to be an educator, educate. If you want to teach, teach. If you want to be a manager, find ways to manage. So I think sometimes we wait for opportunities to fall into our lap without actually looking for those opportunities and taking upon a project or doing something that might create that opportunity.
Speaker 2:Same thing, dude, like you remember when you called me or messaged me, and you're like Hank, like I want to educate, I want to make an impact, and I'm like, well, go do it. So, you know, start doing it, like start your podcast or whatever it is, and, yeah, I mean that's exactly what it is. I think that's great feedback from Karen is that don't let anyone tell you that there's only one way to grow. I think that would be the companion lie to the. It's only about certification, because oftentimes I get asked that too, because I grew pretty quickly in my sterile processing career and they're like, hey, like you know what's the best way to grow?
Speaker 2:Well, when I was growing, it was a real common answer to that question. It's like you need to start speaking at conferences. You got to get on the conference circuit. Well, I don't enjoy public speaking, bill, I'm kind of terrified of, you know, large crowds and yeah, yeah, large crowds. And yeah, yeah, surprise, yeah Right, and I did not not want to do that at all.
Speaker 2:And so, like point number one was start speaking. And then point number two was like get involved in the trade organization, like get on this thing, run for president, dah, dah, dah dah. But if at point number one I didn't qualify, I was like, well crap, if that's how you grow and I don't want to go and be a speaker, then I guess I'm out of luck, you know. But just like what you said, no, no, there's a million ways for you to grow in your role. And this is getting back to your your question here about burnout.
Speaker 2:If you're feeling stifled in growth, try to break out of the box you're in mentally and say, okay, if I can't grow with my job title or my pay, can I grow in other ways in this department? Like, can I do other things that maybe my manager's doing or my lead tech is doing that they would let me do? Can I be the stock order guy or gal? Can I be the person who's leading the end services instead of my educator every other month? Right. Be the person who's leading the in-services instead of my educator every other month, right? Like there's a million things that you can do additional to what your job title and your role is. That is exactly the kind of growth that can feed and push back against that burnout mentality that we're talking about.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think this is really great. I just I'm really excited about this conversation because I know, in just networking on LinkedIn, like how I met you and different ones there's so many people that have expressed burnout and that have mentioned that it's something that they're dealing with, and so you know, it's really interesting too because I've met people that I've tried to push right, like a few that I know that I'm trying to push to grow and grow and grow and they're. They're like just put me in decon and I just want to clean instruments.
Speaker 2:I don't want to think about processes.
Speaker 1:I barely don't even want to read this document to educate myself more. And then just toxic workplace culture Like how do you feel? I mean, of course, toxic environments has a great impact. So what are your thoughts about a workplace culture that's toxic and does that, or how does that influence burnout?
Speaker 2:Yeah, this is not an uncommon tie in to this question, but I would say if you're in a toxic work environment, it's almost always the leaders. It's either the leader's fault or, at the very least, it's always the leader's responsibility. Now, some leaders. I remember coming into a department that had a toxic work environment, but I was the new leader. It was toxic long before I got there.
Speaker 2:It's like turning a big ship in the middle of the ocean.
Speaker 2:You can't just turn it on a dime and then fix all the toxic stuff that's been there for years and years, and you can't necessarily just fire all the toxic people and then start again from scratch. There's a lot of stuff that goes in there. So it's either the leader's fault or the leader's responsibility. But, yes, what happens is these leaders allow this to fester and when that happens, your technicians lose all trust in their leaders and then they feel like there's no hope for improvement, there's no accountability, there's no one looking out for my interest, to protect me from the toxic person and, worst case scenario, the toxic person is the manager in the office who's just belittling, undermining, lying. I've seen that up close and personal, unfortunately, and it is I talk about the complex mission and everything else that we have to do in sterile processing. Then you come in. You got to deal with the toxic work environment at the same time. Absolutely crazy and ridiculous. But yes, and that's one of the big reasons that I know a lot of people say not for me anymore.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's so true. No, it's so true. I think culture is so huge. It isn't as culture as what we do consistently, what we allow and then what we celebrate and serve, yeah, yeah, you might as well have just thrown a party and say, I love when John talks to people like that, so it's huge, yeah, and then how do you feel? A training, lack of training or support can influence burnout in SPD.
Speaker 2:A lot of this question comes to the personality of your technician. So there are a lot of personalities out there that do not feel confident in doing a job unless they have as much information as possible. They need the roadmap, they want the clarity, they want the concrete steps. What am I literally supposed to do? And if you don't give them that immediately, they feel unsupported, they feel at risk because they feel like they're going to make a decision that's going to blow back in their face You're going to get in trouble, or it's actually going to hurt somebody, and that's very, very difficult for those personality types to function in an atmosphere that does not get adequate training or does not get full training. And so those newbies especially, that's kind of where they're tempted to burn out. On the flip side, though, the training and the investment part is kind of I think maybe we alluded to it early on the recognition side of things but if your department doesn't train you, they don't care about you. I don't care how much they say they love you and we're team, we're family, whatever else, if they're not providing you ongoing education on a regular basis, they don't care about you, because that is growth.
Speaker 2:Going back to what you were just saying earlier, bill, the way that we grow is we come to know more, internalize more and then execute more either better, faster, like with more joy, but you know less toxic environment, like whatever it is. But you've got to have inputs into the system and that comes through education, training, cultural opportunities. So, yes, that is a big source of really failure. But to be fair, going back to point number one, we're understaffed in sterile processing. The most likely thing that gets cut is your educator gets pulled, or, if you still have a new educator, they're acting like a tech and they're assigned as a tech so they don't have time to educate. And hey, we got a busy night. So we're going to skip the in-service today, or we're going to skip the staff huddle, or we're going to push the staff meeting back another couple of weeks. That happens again and again, and again, and then you end up with almost no education and then you're feeding into this vicious cycle of burnout that we're talking about.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm just I'm envisioning the experiences I've had around that. I'm like oh yeah. I didn't have an educator here. Oh yeah, we skipped that.
Speaker 2:I know, I know I'm speaking dude Like this is real life.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, no, that's that's. That's really good. How do you feel personal life overload A person's just what they're bearing just before they even put the scrubs on? How does that? Can that have an impact on burnout in SPD?
Speaker 2:Yeah, at one point, you know, I used to be the kind of leader that was like, hey, leave your personal stuff at the door, I don't care, it shouldn't have an impact. I think the longer I've been a parent I have realized that is impossible. That's an impossible standard. If your kid is sick, if you got a newborn like I do I got an eight week old at home If you have a horrible night with the baby, he just doesn't sleep, yeah, thank you.
Speaker 2:You're going to be feeling it when you come in the next shift. You're going to have brain fog. It's like you may have some frustration, just like all those feelings are going to be happening. And so, yeah, life outside of work is still impacting and will always impact work, and so the best leaders, the best staff, the best coworkers, they realize that and they manage that to the best of their ability. You're not going to be like you should not be expected, as a department manager, to be Dr Phil and, you know, have all the counseling moments in your office and make everything better. That's not your role. Now.
Speaker 2:The best leaders do have some kind of relationship where they can speak truth into the employees like some level of encouragement, but at the end of the day, you're running a department, you're not running a counseling service. When it comes to burnout implications, though, a good leader will acknowledge that thing. They will be able to tell by someone just walking in the door. Hey, bill, I can tell, dude, like you're not 100% here with us, is there anything that you want to talk about and need to talk about? Or is there something I can do assignment-wise to maybe make it a little bit lighter on you today? Like can I put you somewhere else that's maybe not as stressful and tense? Like maybe you're not answering the calls to the? Or today Maybe we do got you back in decontam where you can kind of decompress a little bit. Like, good leaders will make those kinds of calls to be as thoughtful and strategic as possible to reduce the impact of outside.
Speaker 2:And then I would just add the last thing on that Be very mindful and careful. Going back to the toxic culture piece, some coworkers will use what's happening outside to mock or to pressure or to impact their peers in a very negative, toxic way. So it could be like boyfriend, girlfriend stuff. It can be. You know, you name it and you want to lock that crap down very, very quickly as a leader and say, hey, no, you're not getting in anyone's personal business, you're not using that as any kind of communication fodder on the floor, if the other person's there or not. It's just not happening.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's really good. That's really good. I love that about the parent aspect. You know I have a 16-year-old daughter with lots of sleepless nights. So what do you feel is the first step SBD leaders can take to create a burnout aware culture?
Speaker 2:You know, transparency is huge, I think, especially if you're a leader who's coming into a department that has a lot of burnout already. You know I'm speaking to some leaders here, but every sterile processing leader will be able to tell you many times in your department, in your career. You know what should be done in the department. You know that you need a new cart washer like. You know you need more staff, but you literally can't get it done. You don't have the budget, you can't get the approvals, no one will listen. So now you're stuck between an administration who was not operating under your timeline or your request, and then you've got this staff that you've got to go back to every single day, every single morning, to be saying, Hank, we still don't have a cart washer that we need and it's killing us in Deacon Tam, so we still don't have the right PPE. Can we feel like it's dangerous or unsafe or like we don't have enough of it, like whatever it is? And this leader is stuck in the middle of that. So some leaders don't do a good job communicating that struggle.
Speaker 2:I see sometimes leaders try to take no responsibility and they're like, yeah, the administrators, they don't care about us, they're never, they're not going to give us other people, it's all their fault and they try to only be like us versus them. Well, what you've just done is you've undercut the whole facility mission. Now they no longer trust administrators to do anything positive for your department, right? So like that's not a good plan. If you try to take it all on your shoulders, as if you just can't get it done or you just don't want to get it done as a leader, well then you lose credibility again with your staff. So I think the best place to position yourself as a leader and try to move toward this burnout-free or reduced burnout culture is be honest with your staff about what you can do as a leader, what you can control and, just like the scenario that I used earlier about the stuff that's happening outside of work, sometimes leaders can do stuff with that. Can you, as a leader, hold your staff accountable?
Speaker 2:Yes, going back to the conversation about the OR communication challenges or the rudeness and disrespect, I used to tell my team I cannot control what the OR nurse says or what the surgical tech says. I can control what you say and how you answer the phone and how you respond and if that's rude, if it's professional or not, we're in control what we do. Judgment starts in our house and then we'll let. I will go as a leader, I'll go to the OR manager director as needed, and we'll have conversations offline about what their team is doing, but I want my team to be doing it by the book, and so I think it's really, really important to focus directly internally on what you can actually control, communicate to the rest of the team and yourself what you can't control, and then do your darndest to hold everyone else accountable, to keep you on vision and on point and on mission, so that you're not getting into toxic, you're not getting into poor communication and you're not forgetting that, yes, people have stuff going on outside of work.
Speaker 1:I appreciate I mean, I really appreciate this conversation. I feel that you were giving a lot of things out to the listeners that are going to empower them to, you know, be able to survive or also to know how to, like you said, being transparent in communication and then holding the leadership accountable, and so I think this is really good, and so I really do appreciate you being here. And I know burnout doesn't mean you're weak, it just means you've been strong for too long without enough support, but support does exist. So a huge thanks to you, hank, for coming out today and supporting the sterilization station I'm so excited to have you here and for shedding light on what sterile processing professionals really go through and how we can fight back together. And so, if this episode spoke to you, share with your team, your manager or someone who might need it, and remember you're not alone in this work. You're part of a community. Until next time, stay sharp, stay strong and, of course, stay sterilized, and we'll see you soon. Thanks again, hank, for coming today.
Speaker 2:Thank you.
