
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
SPD: Your Secret Weapon for Device Success
What if the key to your medical device success isn't in the OR, but in the basement? The Sterilization Station podcast uncovers a powerful but overlooked influence on device outcomes - the relationship between sales representatives and Sterile Processing Departments.
Host Bill Rishell welcomes Gyda Loveres, an experienced medical device sales leader who started her career by dropping off trays at SPD. Their conversation reveals how treating SPD professionals with respect, communication, and emotional intelligence transforms transactional interactions into partnerships that drive success.
"Treat people like people," Gyda emphasizes throughout this eye-opening discussion. SPD teams juggle countless priorities while ensuring patient safety through proper instrument reprocessing. When sales representatives recognize these challenges and communicate effectively, everyone benefits - especially patients.
The episode explores practical strategies for building productive SPD relationships, from advance communication about cases to small gestures like separating dirty instruments. Gyda shares how strong SPD partnerships have "saved her butt" countless times, with staff alerting her to competitor activities and protecting her instruments. Meanwhile, Bill offers the perspective that reps are "patients" deserving exceptional service.
Whether you're a medical device professional seeking better case outcomes or a sterile processing technician navigating vendor relationships, this conversation provides actionable insights to transform your approach. The message is clear: the SPD-sales connection isn't just about logistical efficiency—it's about recognizing our shared humanity in service of better patient care.
Want to build stronger bridges between SPD and sales? Listen now and discover how communication, respect, and collaboration create a win-win scenario for everyone involved in the surgical care journey.
Welcome to the Sterilization Station, where we dive deep into the hidden drivers of medical device success. I'm your host, bill Rochelle, and today we're uncovering a powerful but often overlooked influence on device outcomes the Sterile Processing Department, or SPD. Too often, sales teams see SPD as just a hurdle to clear or a step in the way of getting devices used in the OR. But what if SPD isn't a roadblock? What if it's a secret weapon? And to help us explore this untapped influence, I'm thrilled to welcome Gaida Lovarez. Gaida is a seasoned medical device sales leader and the host of the Device Diaries podcast. Yes, she is a host of a podcast. This is exciting. With years of hands-on experience in the OR and strong ties to sterile processing teams, she brings the unique perspective that bridges sales, clinical and SPD worlds. Gaida, welcome to the show today. We're excited to have you here.
Speaker 2:Thanks, bill. I'm happy to be here. I'm really excited about this. I didn't sleep last night. I'm not going to lie, because I'm really really looking forward to this, but thanks for having me.
Speaker 1:Thank you very much. Definitely excited to dig into how understanding and partnering with SPD can transform device success, and so, if you could, maybe you could just take a second and kind of tell them a little bit about your journey into a device and how you got into your podcast before we dive into some of these questions.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I would love to. So I've actually been in medical sales for about 14 years now. So it's been a minute. And I remember when I first broke in I broke in into spine which is crazy like ortho spine right away, and I did that for about 12 years, about two years, and then I've been in my capital equipment job for about two years now. So the reason why I broke in I was actually a personal trainer and I basically got approached by a distributorship in Arizona and they're like you seem strong, you have muscles, do you want to run trays for us? Talk about SPD, right? So I was.
Speaker 2:Actually I was the person dropping off trays the night before surgery to make sure that the trays are sterilized prior to case. So I did that for about a couple months. A couple months in I was offered a position to actually rep for a case. I took the position. Luckily, somebody a surgeon trusted me to rep for him, especially being so brand new with industry. So I did that. I landed the gig. I basically covered all of Arizona at that time. And then fast forward about two years ago, I decided I was going to transition into more of a capital equipment sales.
Speaker 1:Wow, wow. So you like you're, you know, you know what it's like to be an SPD. You know it's like dropping those trays off and and and all of the things that go with that. So that's, that's pretty amazing. That's really exciting Really excited. Really excited to learn about your journey, oh my gosh.
Speaker 2:Yes, I know exactly the grind. I know exactly how it is Like. I remember driving in the middle of the night because I had like a full time job during the day and meeting all the night crew. I got to, I got to know them a lot. You know I'm a chatty person, so I get I like to get to know people. I'm not just that type of person who just comes in and like, bye, see you guys, I'm like I actually would introduce myself and that's just who I am. That's just how I was raised as a person. You know, always like treat people, like treat people, treat people like people. But yeah, I got to know the whole crew and I love it. You guys are amazing. You guys are such a integral part on what we do and I can tell you so many stories of how many times you saved my butt so many stories.
Speaker 1:It's so great because you know from being in the OR as a liaison, working with the reps really closely, that we were helpers one of another. I'm helping you and then you're helping me. It's great. I'm really looking forward to this dialogue and the background of you just laying a really good foundation and making the connection between being a rep that services sterile processing and surgical services. So, from your experience, what's one thing most sales reps don't understand about SPD, but they really should.
Speaker 2:You guys, they're people too, they have families too and they want to go home to their families too at the end of the day. These two and they want to go home to their families too at the end of the day. And I feel like, as sales reps, sometimes we're like such in a rush to turn our trays or to reset our trays we're forgetting that, hey, they have other things going on too. So I think, having enough emotional intelligence to treat people like people and that has always been my motto in life it's not about us, you know, yes, we want to go home after a long day. Well, guess what? They have long days too.
Speaker 2:So I think, if I can leave one advice for reps future reps, maybe seasoned reps just have enough respect and treat people like people, because they have families and they get sick too and they have emotions too, just like us. So be aware of that. Understanding, really being understanding emotional intelligence, I think, is such a key when it comes to relationships. Right? Because in anything I've done in my life, I treated people like people. I would ask people how is your day? I would always say thank you, and I think that a lot of us forget to do that which it really bothers me, because you know the end of the day we're all here to go home to our families, all here to, you know, watch our favorite show at night too, and you know we're all here to make sure we make it on time for dinner for all people.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think that's really good, and even the fact of bringing into emotional intelligence is so key, even from the perspective of like being emotionally intelligent, to know who you are and even how you manifest yourself, so that you can be knowledgeable of what you're showing. You know what I'm saying, so I know I've heard emotional intelligence is how you can manage the emotions of others by how you respond, but also like knowing yourself, I think is so key, and obviously you know yourself and you're imparting that, no doubt through your podcast. I've listened to you know two or three episodes and just the conversations. You're like a 110% person. You put it all in right, it's all going to be in. So I think that was really great. I really appreciate what you just said. Thank you, person. You put it all in right, it's all going to be in. So I think that was really great. I really appreciate what you just said.
Speaker 2:Thank you, thank you, and you know I appreciate that I am a real person and one thing I've, you know, I promised myself that, you know, whatever I do in life, I'm going to be authentic. At the same time, I'm going to be respectful, right, and that's that's what, how my mom raised me, that's how I was raised and I, you know, I definitely you know, based on, like, coming from the Philippines, coming from a third world country, moving to the US, breaking into my device, everything that I've done in life, I've always one thing I've always told myself, whatever it is that you do, gaida, be authentic, be honest and be respectful.
Speaker 1:So that's great. So, Gaida. So SPD teams have tough days, right you know? Can you paint a picture for us what is a bad day in SPD look like, and how do vendor reps affect that day, whether it's for the good or the bad, oh my gosh, yes, of course.
Speaker 2:Like when there's days to where. Well, first of all, I just want to paint a picture of how busy you guys, spd team, actually get. I mean, I've been in days where there's 10 surgeries booked and then somebody's booking another case and then here you are, as a vendor rep, trying to get home, be like can you just process my tray right now, cause I just need to get home? And my recommendation, I guess, if you want me to paint a picture of what a bad day looks like, depends on the hospital right? Some hospitals don't really have enough cookers, some hospitals don't really have enough I don't know. I call it the washing and and you guys have to be very respectful and flushing instruments. I've seen reps oh my gosh, for me I'm like I hate when reps like can you just flush this because I don't have a backup, and I've been trained enough to where I always have a backup, because the last thing I want to do is for them to stop what they're doing when they're in the middle of something, just so you can flush on instrument because you didn't have a backup and you know that's exactly what a bad day looks like and how you can make their day worse is by being pushy, by be, by doing things, maybe showing up last minute, you know, with your trays, knowing that it's going to get used in a case, you know. So I always recommend 24 hours prior to a case is what they expect.
Speaker 2:Yes, there are certain situations to where you can avoid, but still be respectful and still be very communicative over what that looks like For me. If I don't have enough case for a surgery, I totally would come down to SPD and warn them hey guys, I got to turn this trace, just letting you guys know, so you're aware. So being constantly communicative about what's happening in your daily lives, as well as having a backup plan. Because I've seen it all, bill, I've seen it all to where you know you guys are running around down SBD. Everybody's just freaking out, stressed out, because docs are scheduling unexpected cases. I've seen it. So for me as a rep, how could I help out? How can I add value? How can I not add an extra layer of stress to a really high stress job? Right, and that is by being prepared, that is by having a backup, that is by being a better communicator to you. And besides too.
Speaker 2:Another thing too that people tend to forget to consider is like sometimes we get holes in our trays, and guess what happens, you know, when they open it up in a case and then come to find out the trays has holes in their trays. And guess what happens? When they open it up in a case and then come to find out the trays has holes in them, that gets sent back down. And guess what? If they don't have enough cooker, cases get delayed and cases get delayed, they get blamed too.
Speaker 2:So you just want to avoid that situation, and showing up on time is huge for me, or even for me, when I say Bill's showing up on time, I'm always an hour early and I'm always having them open my my trays right away, because I want to avoid that last minute thing of like having to flush, having to rush, you know, and having making you guys stop what you're doing so you can attend to my needs. Meanwhile, you guys are taking care of a bazillion things that are happening in the hospital as well. You you know, because it's not just about our instruments. You guys are dealing with hospital instruments as well.
Speaker 1:So yeah, no, that's really good. It leads right into my next question. Imagine a new device shows up unexpectedly without instructions or warning, like what typically happens in SPD.
Speaker 2:When this happens, Gosh, where do I begin? A new device comes in. Well, first of all, some of our devices, especially with me when I was in spine, right, so I can only talk about my experience is some of my screwdrivers have a million parts to them. So if you're not telling them to this, teaching them to disassemble those parts, they can clean it properly to really avoid any surprises. To really avoid any surprises, if you know what I mean when I say surprises there could be a piece of bone still stuck in there because you didn't teach them that, yes, this screwdriver has three parts to it, right? So all those little things that could be avoided just by habits, just by being prepared, right, the power of preparation is huge and just spending a little bit of time showing them. You guys, I think SPD is one of the smartest folks out there. I love hanging out.
Speaker 1:I agree with you, I agree with you.
Speaker 2:You guys know all my, you guys know my stuff better than I know my stuff. And every time I have a little break in the OR, I would hang out down the basement and I show you guys a lot of love because I'm like this this folks are so smart. They know everything about everything, every single instrument, every how to assemble, assemble. Sometimes they're you guys are teaching me about my instrument, which is really, really cool. But again, like having being being very, very prepared, having spending a little bit of time it doesn't have to be 30 minutes. A lot of times I'm like I show up there, do a little in service, and they're like yeah, we already know. I'm like okay, fine, thanks guys, you know, you just made my life easier. So, yeah, so that's, that's really really important, bill.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, I like that a lot. I love what your answers are and you can tell that you're a person that effectively communicates. You value the people who are serving you, and so I think that's really really good. When you think about, like design or rollouts, reprocessing, you know, when it comes to device design, like what makes a device truly SPD friendly.
Speaker 2:Oh, not having too many moving parts to it. I feel like that helps out a lot, especially in my experience, because a lot of times this device companies can be super, super innovative and sometimes innovative is not always the best right For me. I'm a girl, I like to keep things simple, so sometimes simple is easy. Simple makes things easy. Simple means less explanation. Simple means less explanation. Simple means less things to break. I feel like if there's too many moving parts on your device, there's more chances of something breaking or a part missing or maybe like getting lost in, you know and I call it again the washing machine. So I think less moving parts is good. Sometimes innovation is great, but a lot of times these companies get too innovative and that's not good either.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no for sure. Next question about, like, device failures or setbacks because of reprocessing challenges. So, like, what kind of problems have you witnessed, you know, with device fails or setbacks?
Speaker 2:The biggest thing I've experienced in my when I was a spine rip was things missing, like parts missing. Again, going back to sometimes my screwdrivers have three parts and of course it's always that little piece that goes in the middle and the very inner core of the driver that's always missing. So again, having those conversations, I always like to do a quick service. I'm like, hey, just so you know, there's three parts to this driver and this is the most important part part. Is it better for me to put this in a separate like wrap? I forgot. It's been a while since.
Speaker 2:I've been a spine rep, but you know you guys have that little wrapper, is it better to have it on there separately? So because once you put it in the washer, things move around, things shake around and things can easily fall out of the tray. So having ways of even like even putting something underneath. I've gotten really, really friendly with my SPD folks to where I'll ask them hey, what would be the easiest way for you guys, for me, to separate things out so things doesn't get lost? And a lot of times you guys come up with such such cool, innovative ideas which I now apply at home in my kitchen because it's just like you guys are best, that's just like okay, this is the best ways that things don't go missing or things don't break, so yeah, no, that's great.
Speaker 1:that really that's really great. Now, what about product evaluations, like typically in sterile processing? Do do they get involved in product evaluations and what like, when you're doing the product evaluations, are they a part of the feedback Stuff like that? I was just kind of curious on product evaluations as it relates to sterile processing, and do you have any insight to add to the conversation about that?
Speaker 2:You know I was never. I think it makes sense why you guys should be a part of the product evaluation process Because you guys touch my instruments more than I do, you guys see it more than I do and you guys, you know, are around it more than we are. So I think that should. I don't know how it is now, but I know in the past, when I was a rep a spine rep I there wasn't a time to where I saw an SPD person be a part of a product evaluation. I but I always make it a point to make sure that you know we're on the same page, that I do an end service If I'm bringing in a new tray just to make sure that you know nothing gets goes missing or nothing breaks and it's just helps with. You know the relationship.
Speaker 1:I think that's really great and that segues right into some of the questions I have about relationships and even the opportunity that's presented between SPD and medical device representatives, whether it's account managers, medical educators. Like you were a sales rep. So let's talk relationships for a second, Like what makes a great rep SBD relationship work.
Speaker 2:I always like to say you know, treat your work life as if it's your love life. And what is the number one secret to a good working or life relationship? Communication.
Speaker 2:It goes back to that good communication. If you want to be married for a long time, you guys, you got to communicate. If you want to have a long, long, lasting relationship, a work relationship, you have to properly communicate and also take accountability. Take accountability If it is your fault. A lot of times it is the rep's fault and they blame it on Speedy. Take accountability, you guys. Speedy didn't cook it fast enough, oh well, guess what? You didn't show up early enough for them to cook it fast enough. So taking those taking the responsibility. We are all adults here and maybe you did show up late, that's okay, you know. Just own up to it. But, yeah, definitely the best. The key to a great relationship is communication, Don't you agree, Bo?
Speaker 1:No, absolutely. I think communication is really, really important. It's really the bridge between the successful outcomes in surgical services or anything. Right is understanding your customer, having your business model around value adds, making sure that you're really keeping at the center of everything that you do what is a customer really valuing? It could be communication. What is a customer really valuing? It could be communication. It could be like making sure that you're even holding them accountable. I mean, holding each other accountable is really important. So I think really like customer success or having value added to customer relationships is like really important, you know, yeah absolutely Like you know.
Speaker 2:Again, I always like to say you know, we're all adults here, we're not little babies, so we have to learn how to take responsibility. And the moment you start taking responsibility and being better at communication, having enough emotional intelligence right. Going back to emotional intelligence, I feel like a lot of people that is the missing piece when it comes to how do I build a strong relationship. Well, treat people like people you know, ask them about their day, say thank you. I think like that's such a missing piece because I feel like, even though it is part of your job, whatever that means for you to clean my trays or to process my trays, at the end of the day I feel that you're still doing me a favor.
Speaker 2:Wasn't for SPD, my trades wouldn't have made it in the room on time, you know, and that's the way I look at it. So I always like to say you know, say thank you, you know, for everything you do. I've been. That's why I've made a lot of friends with SPD folks. I love SPD folks. You guys again, you guys covered my butt, saved my ass for a lot of, you know, last minute stuff. That happened when I was a spine rep. So, yeah, you guys do play such a huge part in our lives as reps.
Speaker 1:No, that's really good. It made me think about selfishness, the relationship selfishness has to that communication. Do you feel like selfishness has a bad, like a positive influence or negative influence on the relationship?
Speaker 2:Definitely a negative influence. I mean, I can give you the perfect example. You know, when I was a spine rep, covering a pediatric spine, I would have, you know, like cases pretty much Mondays through Fridays, and then they would you guys, spd folks, would easily turn my tray because I only have a couple of trays and I have a couple of cases going on every day, right, and Friday comes right. What do I typically do, instead of forcing SPD to be like, hey, can you just process this so I can go home talk about selfishness, right, I'll be like, hey, listen, this is not a rush, I don't have a case tomorrow, finish what you have to do right now. I'll come back on the weekend because it is a slow. The weekends are pretty much a lot slower than during the week and that's when I would reset my trace to help out.
Speaker 2:So all those little gestures that you can do as a human being, like be good to other people, geez, really, really not only adds a lot of value but also basically makes you a respectable, trusted person, because now you're coming in there as a human being, right, respecting their time and their space and their efforts and not being pushy enough, talking about selfishness and understanding that they have families too and they have their own personal lives too and they're busy too. So even I like to. I'm like is there anything I can? I always like to ask this question to my SVD folks hey, is there? Do you want me to wash it? Let me wash it, let me help you wash. A lot of times the answer is no, no, you can't do that, we can't let you do that. But one thing I do, going back to the selfishness aspect of things, is that I try to simple stuff, right, simple acts of gestures.
Speaker 2:You guys, reps, separate the dirty from the clean, separate the dirty from the clean. So I will grab a tray and put all my dirties that they have to hand wash separately. That way they're not having to wash every single instrument that's not being used. So all those little acts of gesture really does add up. It makes their job easier, it makes their lives better and guess what, when they feel like you're adding value to their lives, they back you up. They tell you if competitors are watching your stuff. They tell you if somebody's poking holes in your trays when you're not looking. You guys are, you know. That's what I'm saying Like build those relationships, because I call my SVD folks as my knight in shining armor because they protect my trays. They're like so, guys, somebody's another rep's just been roaming around and looking at your stuff and I'm the first one to know. They call me right away.
Speaker 1:So yeah, Now I was saying when we first started networking, that's one thing we, as we were discussing just how the positive impact that you have on SPD and how SPD really enjoys seeing you, and I was sharing with you just how I love reps and you build those relationships and when you see them, it's you anticipate it right. And then when you're like hey, I haven't seen you for three days, or where were you, Are you on vacation? And so I always I remember coining this phrase that, Mike, I, I feel like I really don't. We serve the patient from the perspective of sterilizing instruments, but to me, like you're my patient, the reps were one of my patients and I always treated the reps like with just the highest honor and I would always try to go above and beyond and find ways to make my reps happy, Right, so when they're looking for an extra instrument, and I've already processed it and I put it away and I put it over here for you and and just that feeling of just delivering, like you know, a plus plus customer service. And so I just want you to know like the reps have always been my patients, because the patients are asleep, I can't.
Speaker 1:A customer or patient to me is someone who I have the potential possibility of not demonstrating good service to or not talking to professional. So it's like I have with the vendors I have that opportunity. I have a choice. Am I going to treat them good? Am I going to treat them bad? So, like I said to me, I've always coined that the patient is more than just who's on the table, but it's yourself, the surgical techs, even my sterile processing peers Like I can't just talk to you anyway. So I know it's kind of different, but I do appreciate my vendor reps. I just want to let you know that.
Speaker 2:I love that. Oh, that's awesome. You get a heart. I love that. I just sent you a heart.
Speaker 1:I love that. My first heart on the podcast, ladies and gentlemen, is going down in history.
Speaker 2:There you go, there you go.
Speaker 1:That's great.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's awesome that you treat us like patients. I love that analogy. I love how how you say we are patients and just it just shows your dedication and just shows how good of a person you are, because you know, and it shows that you actually care, right, because, at the end of the day, you know we're there to serve the similar purpose. So why are we not working together, right? Why are we not working together?
Speaker 1:Yeah, that is so true. No, and I appreciate the kind words that always say one team, one dream. So we're, we're in it together. At the end of the day, if the patient has a positive surgical outcome, it was because you brought trays, it was because we sterilize and clean them. So at the end of the day, we can, all you know, feel good that we, we did something positive to help someone you know, feel good that we, uh, we did something positive to help someone you know get back to a normalcy in their life, so I really appreciate that, yeah, yeah, you're gonna say something.
Speaker 2:I'm sorry yeah, and also like to add to that bill it's like god, think about infection rates too. I mean that's huge right. So the more uh, the problem more properly sterilized your trays or like no, most most moisture and all that, you know the lesser it is, lesser chance of infection, and that's the big thing we're trying to avoid, especially in big cases Like I was doing a lot of open big back in the days when I was a spine rep. I feel like I just aged myself right now. We didn't really have a lot of minimally invasive stuff, so everything's just wildly filleted open. So for me, having trays properly sterilized is huge right, especially when you're dealing with not only a very, very sick individual in the room but also you know like you're thinking about outcomes, you know. So yeah, so yeah, you guys play a huge part in that. Making sure instruments really I wouldn't call it save lives, but really make sure that our instruments doesn't make the patient worse, if you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1:No, that's good. Yeah, absolutely. I mean we definitely want to fight against infections. I mean, I think that's the collaboration of the vendor partners with sterile processing is ways that we can improve. We discuss, we communicate what works, we communicate what doesn't work. I mean, I was always the, I'm always the tech that's going to let the reps know when they come in. We have a Zimmer Biomed rep that comes and he puts our trays together for us. Just recently, because we picked up on our cases, we were we're putting them together, but he used to spoil us a lot, so, but we would always thank him and just give them, you know, tell them thank you very much. And so I think it's really about communicating, working together, and some days my wife always says we don't, we don't lose, right, we either win or we learn. So we're going to learn together and that way we can win together. So I think that's great.
Speaker 1:So this next section is called sterile insights. It's like a rapid fire. Just some quick questions before we shut out this episode. It's going so fast, but we'll do some quick rapid fire questions. So what is one thing reps should start doing today?
Speaker 2:Communicate better, you guys. Communication is key when it comes to anything that you do in life. If you're running late, communicate. If your case is delayed, communicate. If you need instruments flushed because you didn't bring a backup, communicate. If your surgeon added a case, communicate in advance. It's just when they're, when everybody has an idea of what to expect, right, things just flow a lot easier and things just flow better no, that's great.
Speaker 1:I think that's really great. And what's one word you'd use to describe SPD?
Speaker 2:Awesome, you guys are awesome. I like to use the word awesome, but you guys are awesome. You play again like other reps. You're missing out if you're not getting to know these cool individuals. Again, I would hang out when I have a little break in between cases in SPD and get to know them. They're human beings. They have families, Ask about their lives. What do they do on the weekend? Right, Do you have any kids? Do you have any pets? All those things you guys do play such a huge role in the medical field and I think that people tend to forget that just because you're in the basement doesn't mean you know, kind of like don't put baby in the corners, type, you know, Nobody puts baby in the corner, dirty dancing, right Like. That's the way I feel about it and you know, I spent a lot of time in SBD because I really wanted to get to know you guys, because I think you guys do play a huge, huge role to make sure that we have a successful case, a successful surgery.
Speaker 1:That's really cool. That's great. I really appreciate that. And, by the way, yes, we are awesome. Just for the record.
Speaker 2:Yes, so your dream scenario for SPD and sales collaboration. Dream scenario for SPD and sales collaboration. Ooh, that's a tough one, I feel like it depends on the situation, right, but if I can like make wave the magic wand, I think like just better communication. Going back to communication again, it's huge, you know, because we're only humans, you know we can't read each other's emotions.
Speaker 2:So a lot of times, especially when you, when you take on a stressful situation, whether us reps, sometimes cases doesn't really go the way we want them to go and we get frustrated too, and you know we get yelled in the OR hey, go get another instrument, go do this. So just be respectful of each other's space and having enough emotional intelligence so we can both better collaborate, because we're only humans. We have bad days, you know, and that's okay, you know. But I think the biggest thing is like having that common goal, understanding what the common goal looks like, and that goes back to good communication skills. I mean, I cannot talk about communication enough because everything I do in life, communication is always key to every success that I've had in my life.
Speaker 1:No, that's really great. I appreciate that. And then my last question before we close out is if we were to have you back on the show again, what are some topics you would like to discuss and would you be willing to come back on?
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh, I would love to.
Speaker 2:Oh, wow, I got to be invited, you guys, I didn't. I didn't screw it up, thank God, but I god, but, um, I think honestly it's we need to talk more about how can we better our relationship as uh, spd team and rep right, vendor and spd. And how do we as vendors, like how do we, as vendors, make your lives easier too? Like I think that should be a communication as well, even though this is about spd. But I think, like there's gonna be a lot of vendors, a lot of reps are listening to this podcast that wants to be better.
Speaker 2:If you guys want you know, if you guys want your trace to be protected, if you guys want to make sure that your cases go smooth, be best friends with SPD, I can tell you how many times again, going back to my point in the beginning of this podcast talk about full circle now, tell you how many times they saved my butt. They really did, and they know my trace more than I do at times. So having that collaboration is huge and I think, like future topics is just really mainly focused on collaboration, like, how do we help you, how do you help us? It's huge.
Speaker 1:No, that's great. I think that'd be great to do a series where we can do a deeper dive into that. Really appreciate the conversation. Now for the listeners out there who are, like man, I love this lady. She's got such great energy. I want to just touch base with her, maybe ask her some questions or connect with them. How can your fans old fans or new fans how can they touch base with you?
Speaker 2:Well, the easiest way to touch base with me is on LinkedIn. I'm under Gaida Noveres on LinkedIn. I also have an Instagram under device underscore diaries by Gaida. That's device underscore diaries by Gaida, and you get to see me interview a bunch of medical sales reps out there that are just hustling like I am. And yeah, that's the best way. You guys just email, just go, reach out to me on LinkedIn and Instagram and I'm happy to connect.
Speaker 1:That's great. No, I really appreciate it. So thank you very much. So today's conversation reminded us reminds us that the SPD sales connection is often overlooked, but it's one of the most powerful drivers of patient safety, clinical success and device adoption. So here's what I challenge you to do next, reps, make it a point to visit your SPD team this week and ask them directly what do you need to succeed? The SPD teams. Invite a rep to walk through your process. It'll give them a new appreciation for the device from your perspective and for everyone listening.
Speaker 1:Share this episode with a colleague using hashtag sterilization station. Let's spark more conversation like this and don't forget to subscribe, leave a review so we can keep uncovering the hidden influences behind medical device success, and stay tuned, because Gaida is coming back and she's. I already know your bag is full of bombs, diamonds, nuggets and and she's. She was dropping all kinds of stuff and I really appreciate her she's. She's a great person and I'm really looking forward to collaborating more in the future. So thank you for coming to a sterilization station and we were really glad to have you today.
Speaker 2:And thank you for having me and happy to be here, and I look forward to coming back.
Speaker 1:Sounds good. Thank you, all right.