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
The Future of Sterile Processing: How Robotics is Transforming Hospital Workflows
Robotics isn't replacing sterile processing technicians—it's revolutionizing how they work. Join Bill Rishell and global expert Babak from BIG Consulting as they explore the transformative impact of automation on hospital sterile processing departments.
The conversation dives deep into how healthcare facilities are responding to four critical challenges: rising costs, staff satisfaction, digitization, and patient experience. Babak reveals how current robotic technologies—from automated wrapping systems to intelligent storage solutions—are alleviating physical burdens on SPD technicians who typically lift 500-700 kilograms of instruments daily.
What emerges is a fascinating picture of the changing landscape of sterile processing. Once relegated to hospital basements and treated as an afterthought, modern SPDs are being constructed alongside operating rooms with renewed recognition of their critical importance. The episode addresses common anxieties about robotics while demonstrating how automation enhances rather than threatens the irreplaceable expertise of SPD professionals.
Listeners will gain practical insights into implementation considerations, including cost factors for facilities of different sizes, stakeholder engagement strategies, and phased approaches to automation. Babak's message is clear: robotization isn't just a futuristic concept—it's already transforming hospitals worldwide, with benefits for staff wellbeing, infection control, and operational efficiency.
Whether you're a sterile processing professional, hospital administrator, or healthcare technology enthusiast, this episode offers a compelling look at how robotics is reshaping one of healthcare's most essential but often overlooked departments. Connect with Babak at info@bigconsulting.com to explore how automation might transform your facility's operations.
Imagine if you have 200 or 300 sets a day in a mega hospital or a very large hospital. You will need four or five people just wrapping instruments all day and I can guarantee you, after the 10 or 20 or the 30th one, the quality of the work will not be the same For me. Actually, the larger hospitals, I hope that they will all become digitized, you know, when it comes to medical records, tracking and tracing of the instruments, as well as robotization. So I believe all new hospitals are going to do that. There is no way around it. By large setups I'm talking about 250 beds, 10 OR a couple of minor surgeries, you know and because the ROI is a little bit of a game today, the good news is it is becoming cheaper and cheaper every day to implement a robotic, let's say, plan in a hospital.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the Sterilization Station, the podcast where we unpack the evolving world of sterile processing and central sterile supply. I'm your host, bill Rochelle, and today we're diving into a hot topic robots in the world of sterile processing. Are they here to help, are they here to replace, or maybe something in between. And so joining us today is Babic from Big Consulting, that's B-I-G Consulting, a global expert in sterile processing automation, and today we're exploring the real impact of robotics what's the hype, what's real and what's not. And so you know, just really glad to have you today, babic, and welcome to the station.
Speaker 1:Yeah, thank you very much, Bill. It's a great opportunity to share the insight and I'm looking forward to our conversation today.
Speaker 2:Thank you, yeah, me as well. So before we jump into robotics, let's talk about the bigger picture. What is the healthcare industry dealing with today?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I believe we all know this word COVID. Covid was the biggest wake-up call to the healthcare industry across the planet and today many of the healthcare institutions, whether they're large or small, they are facing four major topics. They have four major challenges. Number one is the growing cost growing costs of equipment, salaries, inflation we hear that conversation in every country. Number two is staff satisfaction. We saw that during COVID the staff across different departments of every hospital was under tremendous pressure and today every country is trying to steal the other professional and the other healthcare professionals to come and work in theirs. So self-satisfaction is the second biggest problem.
Speaker 1:Number three is digitization. So under digitization we can also talk about robots and robotization and automation. And this is also a big conversation for healthcare institutions because they don't know where to begin and digitization means a different topic or a different solution for different departments or different problems. And, last but not least, the most important part of the healthcare value chain, which is the patient, and the patient experience is becoming more and more, let's say, scrutinized, because patients are now more educated, so they are not like before. They want access to better healthcare and also they are demanding and they are more, let's say, knowledgeable about their own disease or their own condition, so that patient experience is also a big part of the challenges that the healthcare industries are facing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think that's great. I mean, I really appreciate you touching on those four key areas. I mean, you did kind of touch a little bit already on rising costs. You know staff shortages and digitization some of the things that are impacting. You know sterile processing what's happening now. So what types of robots or automation are currently in use that you know in CSSD or SPD?
Speaker 1:Yeah. So, as we know, robots are already here and they are here to help us. They are not here to take away our jobs. They are not here to take away our salaries and earnings. They are actually here to enhance and support the way that we do things. So today we already have a lot of robots in the hospital. We already have them in the OR. You heard about Da Vinci robots. You know about 13, 14, 15 years ago nobody was thinking about robotic surgery. Now it's a standard and you have a lot of other companies coming up.
Speaker 1:When it comes to the hospital logistics, a lot of hospitals are already using robots to collect and deliver specimens, collect and deliver laundry, collect and deliver food. And when it comes to SPD, we are moving away from the traditional automation of loading and unloading equipment. So we already have robots loading and unloading sterilizers and washers, also robots delivering goods to different sterilization stations within the clean room or the dirty area. We have robots that help us with the packing and wrapping of the sterile goods, so we don't have to do it manually. We today have robots that help us with the shelving, that can organize the warehousing according to the type of instruments, the upcoming surgery, expiration date and all of that. Just to give you an example. Every SPD professional lifts about 500 to 700 kilos a day of instruments. Imagine now we give that to a robot that can take care of the warehousing and you remove all that burden from the shoulder of a SPD technician. That can help a lot.
Speaker 1:You know we also have robots that can deliver the sterile goods from the SPD to the OR and bring them back. So they are already in function and it depends, you know, where do we want to start.
Speaker 2:That's great. That's really good. What factors do you think led to the rise of robotics in the field? I know you kind of touched a little bit on it, but maybe you could say something about it.
Speaker 1:From my experience. Number one is the staff. You know the CSST technician or SPD technician. They're very, very precious. Their time and their knowledge is very, very important and it's better to use that time and knowledge in important areas of the infection control fighting hospital-acquired infection than making them do redundant stuff that is not super productive and sometimes it is not even validatable, and also it puts a lot of pressure on their physics and their well-being. So those are the main pain points that have led to more and more automation and robotization. And, of course, finding good SPD team and technician and training them takes a long time. So it's better to you know, train them do better things than doing redundant and manual stuff where the robots can already take care of.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's really good. Do you see this technology being adopted globally, or is it still in its early stages, would you say?
Speaker 1:Okay, I have been in the infection control business for the last 15 years and I have seen a rise of digitization and automation. There are other factors involved as well, of course the size of the CSST or the SPD budgets and, of course, how forward-thinking and how future-proof that environment, that hospital or that institution is. I see more and more demand for automation, digitization and robotization. But of course, it's always a question with anxiety how do we do it, how do we implement it, who's going to be our partner, who's going to lead us through execution? And, of course, the budget is a big topic that everybody is concerned.
Speaker 2:How do you feel automation has changed day-to-day operations in facilities that have implemented?
Speaker 1:This is actually a very, very important question because it will help us with the costs, because everybody says how much does it cost? So if I tell you that we will save 20% to 30% of the time of the technicians, then that will be part of the ROI, or the return on the investment. Or if I tell you you will have a system that is all of those information are easily accessible and they can be validated. So it will help the organization to really focus on the patient and other areas of providing care for the patients in the hospital.
Speaker 2:That's really good. That's really good. That's really good. I mean, I think it's such a great benefit for any organization, whether you're in the single-use medical device space and you're doing manufacturing sterilization. I worked in single-use as well as the solidations manager, and so there's a lot of companies that were moving into the automation which is just really really streamlined, the production in like electron beam facilities facilities, or whether you're in the hospital setting. I think it's something that can really be a great value add to any department. So that's great. Can robots really match the precision and attention to detail of experienced SVD techs?
Speaker 1:It's a very, very good question and it depends what are we talking about. For example, if we are talking about inspecting and reprocessing a flexible under scope Today, I don't trust that with a robot is necessary, because it's a very, very complex device and you have to have like a big checklist of following a rigid step in order to make sure that this job is done. But when we talk about, for example, wrapping an instrument set or double wrapping an instrument set, imagine if you have 200 or 300 sets a day in a mega hospital or a very large hospital, you will need four or five people just wrapping instruments all day and I can guarantee you after the 10 or 20 or the 30th one, the quality of the work will not be the same. We will share some videos of this wrapping robot that we have.
Speaker 1:And you can see this does the job perfectly every time.
Speaker 2:It's impressive, yeah.
Speaker 1:It can match the quality and precision of a very, very talented SPD technician. The difference is it doesn't get tired, it will do the job the same way every time, doesn't get sick, doesn't, you know, require a lot of, let's say, ergonomic support or physical support, and can do the job nonstop.
Speaker 2:Yeah that's great. I watched the video of it. It's pretty phenomenal. When I see stuff like that, I just call everyone around Like, hey, have you seen this? So I definitely showed them that because I thought that was very impressive. That was great.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly, and the technology is already there. You know the technology is already there. We are not talking about something of a fantasy, it is already there. It's just about do we have the will to really become digital and to really become automated and to really care about the SPD technician's well-being? And also, do we really want to fight infection control in the hospitals or we just want to? You know, tippy-toe around the pool?
Speaker 2:let's say yeah, no, I think that's really good. That's really good and I know, with your background in infection prevention, I know that you've definitely your company and the products that you're bringing into the industry are not going to make an impact. They are making an impact, so I think that's really great. What do you feel are some of the risks or limitations hospitals need to be aware of as it relates to automation and SPD?
Speaker 1:or CSSD? Yeah, I love this question. You know there is risk associated with every new project.
Speaker 1:When we talk about digitization and robotization, it always has a bit of an anxiety towards it, because the end user, the customer, and we are talking about multiple stakeholders in a project process they don't know what they are getting and they have different expectations, whether it is from the outcome or financial, or from the project timeline.
Speaker 1:So I believe the biggest risk is not choosing the right partner or the right consultant to walk the end user throughout the whole project cycle, understanding what they are getting like. What problem are they going to solve, what are the phases of that, how long it will take, what is the budget. And behind that we will need to have a comprehensive educational and how do I say it? Teaching the staff how to work with the robot, because we are good at working with each other, we are good working with the machines, but do we know how to work with robots? I of expectation for what we are planning to do. So if we cover those risks and if we plan it properly, if we plan it in a phased manner, then I don't see a lot of risk when it comes to robotizing and SPD.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, that's good, that's really good. And you think about, like, the human factors related to this. How are SPD tech, by your experience, reacting to the ideas of robots in their workspace?
Speaker 1:At the beginning. It's a little bit of. It depends If we involve them from the beginning that, hey, this is a project, or if they're involved from the beginning and it's their initiative. It's a different kind of a conversation. If it's, let's say, an up-down approach and let's say the management wants to do something, then it is a bit of a conversation to make sure that they understand that the robots are coming to enhance their lives and their work. They are not going to do more just because a robot is now also inside the CSST and really they will have a peace of mind after digitization and robotization project goes live.
Speaker 2:That's really good. Yeah, I think as you incorporate well, that ain't changed, right, when you incorporate the feedback of those who are doing the work in any my experience in SPD, when you incorporate people into the processes, it always goes better. You could almost say we're getting a new team member and they're going to help us with doing this and doing that. What do you feel about that? Oh, I feel great. Okay, we're getting a new team member and they're going to help us with doing this and doing that. What do you feel about that? Oh, I feel great, okay, great.
Speaker 1:Here's a team member. Is that a robot? Yeah, hey.
Speaker 2:I told you Got a team member, so it's all about the way you present it, though, and as automation increases, how do you see the role of the SPD tech evolving, you know? How do you see the role of?
Speaker 1:the SPD Tech evolving, I think that the role will be there for the next 20 to 30 years. There is no way around it. I don't think there is any way around it, even with robotic surgery, processing, you know, the robotic arms With minimum invasive surgery, processing all these different kind of instruments with endoscopes. As the technology evolves to keep the patient lesser in the hospital and quicker out of the hospital, the role of the SPD is going to become even greater. That is why SPD is becoming a very important powerhouse inside the hospitals.
Speaker 1:15 years ago, 20 years ago, the CSSDs that I visited in my region they were all in the basement or in a very corner part of the hospital. No one knew what's going on there and it was like kind of an exile where they would send the mischievous ones to process the instruments. But today, as we get more and more involved in the hospital design, in the SPD and the CSST design, we see the CSST on the same level of the ORs. We see the CSST on the same level of the ORs. They are building the CSSTs on the fourth floor, fifth floor. They get natural lights. They are talking about ergonomy. They are talking about really taking care of their SPD tech, because they are precious. Their knowledge is precious. They hold millions of dollars of equipment and instruments in their hand. So, trust me, if a PD technician wants to delay a surgery, they can do it. You know what I mean. So that is why their role is very, very critical and we will need them. Robotization and digitization will only enhance their work and make their life easier.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's really good. I agree with you 100%. So, if you're listening in today, you know we want to hear from you. You know, are robots in SPD a threat or an opportunity? On LinkedIn, you know tag Bill Rochelle, or you know tag Babak here at DigConsulting. Let us know what you think about it. We've still got a lot of area to cover, but I just want to get some engagement out there. So, if you are listening in, I'm on Instagram too. Sterilization underscore station 52. Tell us what you think. We'd love to hear from you and I'll make sure that Babak gets to see all these posts. But as we keep moving on through this episode, we're thinking about cost and training and implementation. So let's talk money. So what does the investment in robotics look like, and is it just for large hospitals or is it for any hospital setting of SBD or CSSD?
Speaker 1:Okay, my initial answer to this question is robotization today makes sense for larger setups.
Speaker 1:By large setups, I'm talking about 250 beds, 10 OR a couple of minor surgeries, you know, and because the ROI is a little bit of a game today is a little bit of a game today.
Speaker 1:The good news is it is becoming cheaper and cheaper every day to implement a robotic, let's say, plan in a hospital.
Speaker 1:The fact of the matter is that the robots are becoming cheaper and more versatile. What is really behind robotization is the software and that is where, the more projects we do, you know that R&D cost is becoming less impactful and it will make the robots more accessible to more and more healthcare centers. So when it comes to the cost, I'm not so worried because you can also phase the robotization. You don't have to do everything at once. You know you can start with, for example, robotizing the warehouse or only doing the wrapping by robots you know what I mean Places, that you will really feel the impact and you will save money and you will have a direct impact on the ergonomic and well-being of the SPD staff. So the cost, as I said, is becoming cheaper and cheaper and we are ready to explore with you if there are any opportunities to share with your listeners of how much will it cost for them to embark on a robotization journey with us.
Speaker 2:Absolutely no, that's great. I would love to be able to connect anyone in the C-suite or anyone who's. Maybe you're a director of sterile processing and maybe your ears are buzzing and you're thinking like, wow, I never anticipated this type of an episode. I'm hearing something that I'm really interested in, so I would love to. And we have the information at the end of this segment. We will provide the information where you can reach. You know the back at Big Consulting and he can definitely help to map out your project for automating your sterile processing department. So no, that's great, that's really great. Department so no, that's great, that's really great. And then, what kind of planning and training is required to successfully roll out robotics in the SPD department?
Speaker 1:Yeah, for us, the most important thing is meeting the clients, and by meeting the client is that we would like to meet all of the stakeholders, because each one of the stakeholders wants something different from the robot and from the robotization. So that would be a step number one. A step number two, that we have to have a drawing of the SPD or the CSST and the greater hospital and understand what are we trying to do, what are we trying to achieve. We need to know number of surgeries, number of sets, number of staff. The design of the SPD or the CSSD is also very important. Is it the new CSSD or SPD or is it the old one?
Speaker 1:Do you have three particular zones the dirty zone, the clean zone and the sterile zone? How are the current deliveries done? Is it by elevators? Do you dispatch by individuals? You know, we want to understand the dispatching method and we have to also understand the routes. What are the clean corridors, what are the dirty corridors? So every hospital in every country or every state or every region can be a new challenge and a new opportunity for us. But that's where the conversation starts. That's where the conversation starts, so that's how we. I think that's great, yeah, and then, of course, we have to get the team involved to see what is the most important thing for them today. Is it warehousing, is it wrapping, is it dispatch, is it loading and unloading of the equipment? And then we can tackle those, each area. That's great.
Speaker 2:No, I think that's really great. It would be interesting to see like which hospital will become a fully functioning, where even the clinics or the offsite centers that you know, say you're supporting you know women's health or you know head and neck or urology, and to see, is there, like I know, sometimes the robot could deliver the cart to SPD, take them back, you know, and even, you know, put them. That would be such a beautiful setup. I know a lot of my, my peers would love to get some time off their hands to be able to do other stuff or even just have a little bit of extra time during their day. So I think that would be great to see if there ever was, you know, and who's going to be the department that really moves into that, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, I will share some videos with you and you'll see it. It is already there, the technology is already there and hospitals are using it. Because time is money, time is money and the speedy technician time is money. So, rather than sending them on this venture to go and collect the instruments and bring it and take it, and we don't even know, do they bring the right instruments? What is the condition? Can it have an effect on them, infection-wise or whatever?
Speaker 1:But you can send a robot, I will scan, I will open the robot, or let. You can send the robot, I will scan, I will open the robot or, let's say, the container's door, I will put the instruments back. So I am responsible for what kind of instruments I have put back. Because it's traceable, it's trackable. I will close the door and the robot will take the route back. It doesn't matter how many floors it will open the door, it will take the route back. Doesn't matter how many floor it will open the door, it will open the elevator door, which select the right door and come back to the CST or the SPD on its own. It is already there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's really cool. Yeah, I'm looking forward to seeing those videos and I know that the listeners are definitely looking forward to it as well. What advice would you give to leaders who want to prepare their teams for this shift?
Speaker 1:There is no way around it. There is no way around it and I recommend that they create like a team or a working group to start talking about robotization of the hospital Because, again, everybody is going to be impacted and everybody has to be aware and on board for a successful robotization project. You know, we need the clinical team, we need the SPD team, we need the maintenance team. We need the clinical team, we need the SPD team, we need the maintenance team. Yeah, we need the OR team. We need everybody to be aware. That is why a team is very important that has representatives of the different departments on this team. And the leaders they have to know that there is no way around it. And the leaders they have to know that there is no way around it. For their organization to survive and for their nurses and SPD technicians to be able to continue with the demand of the work, they must robotize. The robots are already here. They must robotize, they must allocate the budget to it. There is no way around it, in my opinion.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's great. That's really great. So let's lighten things up with a rapid fire round. Short answers only Get to a few of these questions before we close out. This has been super, super awesome. So what do you feel is the coolest robot you've ever seen in action?
Speaker 1:For me, the coolest robot I've seen in action in SPD is the storage robot that is managing all different kinds of instrument sets, whether they're baskets or containers or wrapped instruments in individual shelves, knows exactly what is where and can prepare the outgoing stuff in a matter of seconds and also shelves whatever is coming inside the storage in a matter of seconds. And we are talking about one robot doing a job of two or three different people.
Speaker 2:Wow, that's amazing. I think you may have mentioned this earlier, but we'll try again. One task you'd never trust a robot with.
Speaker 1:Yeah, today, as I mentioned to you, when it comes to the SPD and infection control, I will leave the flexible underscope cleaning to the SPD technicians for now. Right, of course they would be using machines, but I want their supervision because it's very complex and we haven't gotten to the bottom of it when it comes to infection and infection control. When it comes to the flexible endoscopes.
Speaker 2:No, that's good, that's really good. And if a robot could talk, what would it say on its first day in decontamination?
Speaker 1:I am sure it would say it is harder than I thought, but I'm ready to save humans.
Speaker 2:There you go. And then what's one innovation you hope to see next in sterile processing?
Speaker 1:For me, actually the larger hospitals, I hope that they will all become digitized, you know, when it comes to medical records, tracking and tracing of the instruments, as well as robotization. So I believe all new hospitals are going to do that. There is no way around it, but it's just about, it's a matter of time and, you know, having those visionary leadership within the organization to push forward for future proof and-changing, let's say, stories.
Speaker 2:That's great. That's great. Well, I really really appreciate you coming on the show. Do you have any final thoughts for our listeners, Like, what's your message to sterile processing professionals watching this evolution unfold?
Speaker 1:Yes, I have total sympathy and empathy with the SPD and CSSD team. I think it's one of the hardest jobs inside the hospital. It is very, very delicate, time-consuming and impactful. I'm happy that the healthcare, that healthcare organizations are understanding the importance of CSSD-SPD jobs and I believe, with the right conversation, with the right education and with the right support, we can save hospitals millions and millions of dollars by saving times of the SPD team, tracking and tracing of the instruments, optimizing their sets, minimizing instrument loss and, of course, reducing the bill on purchasing new instruments every now and then. So all of that is part of what we discussed at the beginning of the podcast, really really addressing the main challenges of every healthcare organization, which is raising costs, staff satisfaction, digitization and patient experience. If I can say in one word, if a leader of a healthcare organization, they invest in digitization and robotization of the hospital, they are already contributing and reducing the impact of those challenges that they face every day.
Speaker 2:And we are here to help yeah that's great and I know you are definitely available to assist in any way possible. So for the viewers out there, if they want to reach you by email, what's a great email for them to reach you at?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so my email is info at bigconsultingcom. We also have the LinkedIn page. We have a YouTube channel that is having more and more videos and podcasts on it, and please also visit our website, bigconsultingcom. We have a very wide range of products for SPDs and CSSDs focusing on robotization, digitization, tracking and tracing, as well as hospital-acquired infections.
Speaker 2:Okay, perfect. So they got your email there, they got your LinkedIn, they got your YouTube. So we're definitely definitely glad and thankful that you joined us today. And to our listeners you know, keep asking questions, stay curious. I will see you here next time on sterilization station. If you have any questions, please make sure to reach out to Babak. He is here to assist you. They've got some great technologies. They're making some great changes. We just wanted to bring this information to you because we know we're living in 2025. It's almost like George Jetson type of stuff, right 2025, and there's technologies that are out there to support you. So everyone make it a great day. Once again, Babic, we're glad you're here. You always can feel free. If you ever have any other topics that you want to bring to sterile processing, Sterilization Station is definitely a place where you can always feel free to come back to.
Speaker 1:Okay, thanks, Bill. I appreciate the opportunity and I'm sure that we will see each other more often.
Speaker 2:Sounds great. Thank you very much for tuning in everyone, and you have a great day.
