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
From Bottleneck to Backbone: Data-Driven Sterile Processing
Think SPD is just “the place that washes trays”? Think again. We sit down with Sarah Vinson—a 25-year sterile processing leader, former HSPA board member, and data evangelist—to show how sterile processing becomes the backbone of surgical flow when facts lead the way. From robotics to complex imaging, SPD’s technical demands have exploded, and so has its potential to solve the problems it often gets blamed for.
We walk through concrete examples where inventory data smoothed OR days, where adding commonly used pill packs into sets eliminated churn, and where dashboards and Pareto charts pinpointed the real failure modes—repairs, not indicators; staffing mismatches, not motivation. Sarah makes the case for “facts over feelings” during escalations and explains how to build a business case executives can’t ignore: capacity modeling, turnaround metrics, usage trends, and conflict-aware scheduling. The result is fewer turnovers, better on-time starts, and safer, calmer workflows.
We also get tactical about culture. Shadowing across OR and SPD tightens pre-treatment habits and tray integrity. Regular rounding with service leads and an instrument coordinator turns insights into set standardization and cleaner preference cards. Celebrating “great catches” reframes SPD as a net risk reducer, while clear career ladders, certification paths, and data roles assert SPD as a true profession, not a stepping stone. Above all, we challenge the myth that sterile processing is simple—because patients’ lives depend on doing the complex things right, every time.
If you care about OR efficiency, patient safety, and teams that trust each other, you’ll leave with tools to make SPD the solution, not the scapegoat. Follow the show, share it with your OR partners, and leave a review with your best “great catch” story—let’s elevate the profession together.
Welcome back to the sterilization station. This is Bill Rochelle, your host, the podcast where we shine a light on the world of sterile processing and the people who keep patient safety at the center of everything that we do. Welcome to another show. And today we're diving into a powerful conversation about shifting perceptions, seeing sterile processing not as a problem but as a solution. So joining me is someone who truly embodies leadership and expertise in our field, and that's Sarah Vinson. Sarah brings 25 years of SPD experience and currently serves as a director. She's a past member of the HSPA board of directors and an active participant in the First Coast Sterile Processing Association and holds an MBA. Beyond her impressive credentials, she's a real she has a real passion for data and analytics, helping SPD teams demonstrate their value and impact hospital-wide. So, Sarah, welcome to the sterilization station.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, thanks for having me.
SPEAKER_02:I'm really excited that you know you could uh come on the podcast. I know we were trying to find a good time in a day, but everything happens in the right season. So I'm really looking forward to just just diving into this episode and I'm confident that we're gonna empower sterile processing, which what this this podcast is all about is really just empowering SPDs. So if you could take a second and just uh tell us about your journey into sterile processing and and how you've seen the field evolve.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so I'm one of those people who says that sterile processing found me and not the other way around, because sterile processing was the first job I ever had as a senior in high school. And honestly, it was a hospital that I started as a volunteer. So me and one of my friends thought we wanted to be doctors when we grew up, and we were like, well, what better way to make our college resumes look better than to have some volunteer work? And sterile processing was the department I was assigned to. And then, you know, ever since I've been working there ever since, I fell in love with it and they offered me a job, you know, which helped being being in school, and then I paid my way through college through different hospitals that I worked through. But but I can say having started young and then having done it this for so long, you know, when I was starting out, SPD was not as complex as it is today. Like I think laparoscopic procedures were popular, but not very widely done, and certainly not robotics, and certainly not all these other, you know, fancy imagery they can do in high technical cases. So I think, you know, that's the biggest thing that has evolved. Um, but I think the profession as a whole is definitely something that I haven't lost like excitement and passion for because of that reason. It's always evolving and changing.
SPEAKER_02:Um, from your experience, why do you think SPD is often perceived as the problem in hospital operations?
SPEAKER_01:I think because, you know, the the saying that SPD is the heart of the hospital is true. There's so many things that require instrumentation always and in order for it to occur. So every surgery has to have some form of instrumentation, right? So if something's gonna fail, likelihood that it's an instrument is pretty high because they have to have them, right? Like it's in every single case, and same for delivering a baby in cath lab and other procedures, like you can't do it without without that. So I think just because we're always present, there's just a higher likelihood that something could go wrong. And when it does go wrong, you know, it builds this perception in people's minds that, well, it's always the instruments or it's always SPD, like there's always a problem. When in reality it it that might not be the case.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, that's so true. Stereo processing is always at the center of everything, so it's it's like we always we always joke joke around and tease the doctors, like, yeah, when everything's going good, we never get a thank you, but when everything's going bad, it's like they are going to say something.
SPEAKER_01:Well, if you just imagine all SPDs walking out of a hospital one day, how many departments would literally shut down? Like it's it's you know, crazy to think about the impact that just one department has on an organization.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, so true. You know, when I started sterile processing, my um first job had a had a frame of a picture of a heart, and inside the heart it said sterile processing or central supply, the department that it's like no, they said the heart that pumps sterile blood throughout the hospital, and it was almost like without sterile processing, what could the hospital do? So it was a really cool picture. I think I took a picture of it.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, that's awesome.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, it was really it was really cool. I think it should be a t-shirt, actually.
SPEAKER_01:It should be. It should be in every hospital.
SPEAKER_02:So so how do you define SPD being a solution rather than a bottleneck?
SPEAKER_01:So this idea, like I thought of this last week when I was attending the Asinco Health Ascendex conference, and and that's all largely driven about data and analytics and how there's so much more information now at our fingertips if we use it, that instead of being the problem, I think if we use the information that we have, like if we can train up our leaders and other departments to use that information, it can be so powerful in helping provide solutions to the biggest challenges that most hospitals face. You know, whether that's, you know, we have line of sight of inventory issues, we have line of sight of preference card issues, we have line of sight of so many things that we have the information for that if we can build our partnerships with whether that's the OR leadership or executive leadership, I think we can truly pivot to becoming solutioners for fixing the problems that are perceived to be our problem, but really, you know, are often not in our control.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, that's really good. That's really good. Can can you share a story or an example where SPD directly improved OR efficiency or patient outcomes?
SPEAKER_01:I think the most like easiest one to think of is related to inventory. So if if I've been tracking information on, you know, every Thursday when Dr. So and so works, we always have to do turnovers. There's always an issue, you know, looking at our inventory and what instruments we have, and then building the right amount of buffer and inventory like fixes that from being a problem, right? Everyone is much more relaxed, they don't have to call and rush and do turnovers, like everything just goes so much smoother. And so I think when you have a really good understanding of your usage of your inventory, and if you have the feasibility, right? Because not everyone, you know, has the budget to just go buy more instruments or trays, but maybe you can build or pull from other, you know, sets to build something, I think that easily has a huge impact on OR efficiency and satisfaction.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, that's amazing. Uh and I appreciate that information that you convey because currently I work at a facility where we just it's really small and we just don't have enough instruments to get through the day without multiple turnovers. So but I have come from organizations where we had lots of extra instruments. I mean we had, you know, just can like storage carts full of extra instruments, right? So I definitely understand the difference between two. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:It's feast or famine, right? Some people have too much stuff and others don't have enough.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, so true. No, it's so true. Now I know you're very pa passionate about leveraging data and analytics. So um my next question is so SPD collects a lot of operational data. What kinds of data do you think are most underutilized in SPD?
SPEAKER_01:I think the ones that are hardest to understand and implement are anything related to staffing and throughput and capacity planning. I think most people know that there's a problem because you can feel it right, like there's backlog of trays in DKTIM where you know you don't like you can't assemble at the right right pace. But I think being able to use the data in a way that can articulate to senior leadership to make requests and then get those requests approved. I think a lot of leaders don't have that skill set. I mean, there's a lot that do, but I think that that's something where not everyone knows how to pull, you know, capacity planning numbers and FTE numbers based on instruments and insets. And, you know, unfortunately, the hard thing is there's not really an industry standard either when it comes at least to staffing, like staffing models. You know, because we're all so different. Some people pick cases, some people do crash carts, some do equipment. So it's hard to just have a one set rule. So I think you have to understand your workflow and your um your demand specific to your system.
SPEAKER_02:I know that's really good. I was just thinking, do you feel like data and analytics is supposed to tell a story based upon the situation that you're trying to maybe get upper leadership to to understand?
SPEAKER_01:Absolutely. I I say uh facts over feelings too, right? Because you can run up to your boss's office and like, you know, we're all in healthcare, like somewhat highly emotional people, you know, it's all we're all about caring for people. So, you know, our emotions can be high, especially in the heat of the moment, but that's not always gonna get you what you need, right? You can't just say, well, I feel like it, or I think I think we need it, because today was a bad day. Okay, well, why was today a bad day? You know, how many turnovers did you have to do? What yeah, how many, you know, sets or missing instruments, how many defects did you have? Like, you know, like that again, the data can help tell your story. That's based on facts and not just, you know, how you felt that day.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, that's really good. I know when I was when I was um newer and I was in a bigger facility, I was arguing with the manager in front of everybody why we needed more people. And uh he was like, Well, show me the data. And I was like, Look at the cart, there's like a hundred instruments, right? So he's like showing me the data.
SPEAKER_00:Well, why? Yeah, like what was your productivity? Like, what hours did they come in?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, so that's when I really realized, like, wow, data is really important, right? Because it's one thing to to say you need it, but it's another thing to show through data, through like, you know, monitoring KPIs and doing things like that to be able to actually prove, right? They want to see charts and graphs and all that stuff. They do, yeah. So yeah, that's really good. How can SPD teams use scheduling trends, inventory data, or turnaround metrics to proactively solve some of the OR's issues?
SPEAKER_01:I think kind of like what I said before, especially if your team's the one putting returns away, we call them returns. So if you're picking the case cart and the unused stuff gets returned, well that you know causes more inefficiencies, I guess, for the SPD team, but you can share that data with the OR and help them solve some problems. I know that we were, this was years ago, but we were picking cases and we oh we found that every single time we pulled a laminectomy, we were always pulling the same three pill packs, you know. And then sometimes the pill packs were available and sometimes we weren't. And so we asked the OR, we're we're like, well, do you use these pill packs every single time we're picking them? And they're like, Yeah. And we're like, well, why don't we just add them to the tray and then you'll just always have them? You know, they don't necessarily think about that, they just know they have it in their case or they don't, but like we can help them by always having it readily available. It actually helps us because then it's on the count sheet versus having to manage pill packs and trays. You know, so that's just one example of how how that can help. You know, I don't think Epic, which that's the system I'm most familiar with for tracking, what's the word? Like if you're having conflict, I guess. So if there's like a don't schedule too many of the same case, because you can schedule a conflict in Epic to say you're not going to have enough equipment. I don't think it's utilized in the same fashion for instruments. And so unless we're feeding that information and saying, hey, did you know that the only way you can do five cases is if I turn these two trays over three times? Usually the OR just goes to their case and then they know that their trays there or it's not, versus, you know, we have to do kind of that runaround to get it done, which is like the chaos that everyone lives in and SPDs that we need to we need to fix and solve is.
SPEAKER_02:Right.
SPEAKER_01:We don't have to live this way. Like you don't have to live in this constant state of chaos. Like you can again present the data to say this on average, this is how many cases you do, this is how many we have, and you know, this is why we should invest in more.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, that's really good. I think that's great. What tools or approaches have you seen work well to visualize SPD's impact in other departments?
SPEAKER_01:I like a good old-fashioned KPI dashboard with some Pareto charts where anytime something happens, you just you mark it, right? And then you can see where things are starting to grow. Because you might, again, have an assumption that you think something is truly causing the problem, but until you start actually measuring it and tracking it to be like, oh, well, it's our issue isn't missing indicators or whatever, it's actually, you know, our repairs, like we're constantly getting a feedback that our instruments are broken or something like that. So you might be trying to solve the wrong problem if you're not tracking, you know, the specifics of what's happening.
SPEAKER_02:That's really good. That's great. How can SPD build stronger partnerships with OR teams and uh hospital leadership?
SPEAKER_01:I really like when you can get SPD into observe cases. I think that's great when you can get commitment from the OR to send SPD to kind of see a day in the life of the OR, but also when they send new nurses and new texts to SPD. I think it's very eye-opening when you can kind of connect the dots of the full continuum, you know, because the OR is our customer, but we're also the OR's customer, right? So like how they send things back to us impacts our ability to then turn it around and get it back to them. So I think the way that we mutually understand our impact of each other helps when we have conversations of, you know, hey, this instrument came down uh on the cart and it wasn't pre-treated. Like if they've actually spent any time in decontam, then they'll understand, you know, okay, well, now it means it's gonna take longer to clean, or or maybe there's a higher chance that it's gonna be returned with bio burden because they, you know, didn't do point of use cleaning correctly. So I think when we can better understand where each other's coming from and not just listen to me, like what's my side and hear their side, I think it's easier to have collaborative conversations.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, that's really excellent. I just want to do one comment because um I I read this book called Who Said So by Michael E. Parker. It's a lean philosophy, lean management book. It's a fictitious story kind of telling about a father and son and business. And so he talks about setting up what's called um, he has a company called Value Center Solutions, which basically you build your your business around what your customers value. After I read this book, I took it. I was a sterile processing with ASIN and I took the value-centered approach and started to um we had teams in sterile processing that would meet, like value-centered teams that would meet like your service leads from all your surgery service leads would meet with we called it the value service officer, who basically would meet with them monthly and talk about like building new trays or how to, you know, uh adjust the preference cards and but just find out what the doctors really wanted, so we're giving them what they want versus what they think that they wanted. So I started to implement that as a liaison, and the other liaison would say, What do you what you what are you doing differently? And I said, I'm just listening to the customers, right? Just giving them what they say they want versus what we've given them forever. And so I just want to add that in because that was something that really helped me grow in my career is learning what the customers truly value, you know? Absolutely. And then what mindset shift do you think is required for SPD staff to see themselves as strategic partners?
SPEAKER_01:I think kind of tying into the story you just said from the from listening to the customers. I think we have to be in a mindset where we're not defensive or being the victim, right? Like, well, we can't do this or we can't do that because you're not, you know, point again, pointing the finger back at someone else. I think we need to take responsibility for the things that are in our control, you know, and have accountability for fixing, you know, problems that are truly ours. You know, if we want to be solutioners, we have to look inward first and say, oh, these are the things that are actually happening, and then come up with ways to fix them. Because I think that goes a long way when you're having conversations with, you know, whether it's a surgeon or the OR, is to one approach it and say, yes, you know, I'm aware that these are things that we're working on that are failure points, but you know, not to sound like Jerry McGuire, but we need to sometimes ask them, like, help us help you, right? You know, so if you guys put things back in the right pan, it helps us not lose things and get them back to you. Or if you're, you know, doing pre-treatment, you know, that makes T Contam better. But if we only focus on them and don't focus on the things that truly are within our control that we need truly need to own and fix, then then I don't think um you'll ever have a positive relationship if you can't be open to take accountability.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I think that's really good. I think everyone everyone has to has to really be willing to change. I think that's where you find the best growth and relationships and SPDs when you have people that really do care and are willing to make adjustments. So I think that's good. How can OR staff and SPD work together to improve communication and efficiency?
SPEAKER_01:Again, I think if we can walk in each other's shoes and do some shadowing helps. We've done some very strategic collaborative meetings, and I know every hospital structure is a little different, but we do have service service leads also where I have a an assigned instrument coordinator who has dedicated time just to review instrument requests. And then my managers have dedicated time where they're rounding and meeting with the leadership. So like you have to be intentional to build these relationships. Again, you don't want a meeting just for the sake of a meeting, so you have to be specific in what your agenda is. But I think if you're intentional with rounding and meeting with people and truly building a relationship, that's how you can solve problems collaboratively.
SPEAKER_02:That's great, that's super good. So for SPD leaders who want to demonstrate their value, what's a good first step?
SPEAKER_01:I always say I suffer from horrible imposter syndrome because it's hard for me to articulate like what leaders should do or what I've done in the past that's helped me be successful. Again, I think if you are calm, open-minded, and me again, loving data are very analytical. So if there's a true emergency, I'm not hair on fire going crazy. I'm like, well, well, tell me, tell me what happened. Like, I want to know the facts again, back to the facts so I can get to the root cause and and and solve it. And so I think if you want to be perceived as a leader who's a solutioner, like to fix things, again, you have to not be reactionary. You know, I think it's easy for us to like, you know, want to put out fires and be reactionary, and it fixes it in that moment, but it doesn't fix it long term, and that's the problem, right? Is if we're not coming up with permanent, sustainable solutions, we have to have a mindset that that does that. And so, you know, sometimes that takes practice to do that. Some again, sometimes it takes apologizing when there's a mistake, you know, if it is, you know, related to quality or something like that, sometimes you just have to own up to it. But again, I think if we approach OR leadership from a of a place of wanting to learn from them and be collaborative, I think you're able to do to do if I have a hard time. Well, because I always say I was like, you know, if I could write a book on, which people have, there's like people in our industry who've written books. I'm like, man, if I could write a book on like what are the things to do to be successful in SPD, it's hard for me to put into words because I just do it, right? Like I show up and I do my job. But I'm sure there's things specifically that that matter. And again, I think that's having empathy for my teammates and you know, trying to have an understanding of where my surgeons are coming from, where the OR staff's coming from. But again, I focusing on facts, not having reactionary, I think is probably I would think one thing that's helped serve me well.
SPEAKER_02:That's great. No, I think it's great. It's definitely as a leader, it's good to know the areas that you need to work on and then it's like being honest and transparent with where you are and there's people all around you that you can even learn from just because you're in leadership doesn't mean that you're not you're not continuously learning. So I think that's great. I appreciate you for sharing that in all transparency.
SPEAKER_01:No, and I totally agree with that. I was fortunate to work with the with the organization that you could sign up for classes like Crucial Conversations and you know, learning more about yourself and strengths finders was one of the things that we did. But I think definitely having self-awareness and being able to admit as a leader, you know, when you need to change and improve. Because again, I've you know, I could tell you over the 25 years I've been doing this, like there were times where I failed and didn't handle things the way that I should have, but I learned from them, right? So if you're willing to learn from mistakes, we'll help you grow as a leader too.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, that's really great. That's really great. Are there any are there small wins SPD staff can share that can change perceptions in their hospital?
SPEAKER_01:Well, I think if you're tracking any data at all, you should share any of your wins. Um, one creative way you could do that is instead of having only the OR document issues, is you can create some type of internal incentive for your team. You know, we used to call them great catches. So anything that the staff fix within SPD before it makes it to the OR should be celebrated, right? Like if we are in assembly and we find something still dirty and we send it back to decon, we caught it. Like that's a win, right? Or if as you're assembling, you inspect something and you and you realize it's broken, so you replace it, like that's a win, right? Like getting your team to document. So if the OR says, well, this is how many things you know we found, then you can be like, Well, look, look at everything we caught, though. Like, look at all the things we fixed, just puts a different, again, positive framing on everything that goes into making sure a set is like as patient ready as it possibly can be.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, that's great. That's that's really good. How can SPD professionals advocate for themselves in meetings or plan planning sessions?
SPEAKER_01:I think making sure you're invited to the meeting is step one, right? So not everyone is invited to the table. So if you don't have a seat at the table, you need to try to find an advocate who can help get you there. But again, kind of what we were talking about earlier, if you just show up saying, I need this, I want this because I want it, without any supporting documentation, you're probably not gonna get it. And there's all kinds of people out there willing to help people figure out their data. I mean, again, there's companies that they do this for a living doing assessments. So you can phone a friend at any time if you need help with that.
SPEAKER_02:Thinking about future and inspiration, like what excites you most about the future of SPD and the role data can play in that?
SPEAKER_01:Really trying to advocate for the industry to be looked upon as professionals and a true career. Because I'm I'm fortunate to be someone who has made sterile processing truly like a career. I started as like a technician, I've done almost every job a manage, you know, imaginable from you know, lead, supervisor, educator, and so on. And so like it's truly been a rewarding career, you know, thus far. And so I think historically, you know, so I guess going back to your first question, like what has changed in SPD? I think when I first started, there was a perception that, well, that's just an entry-level job. It's just a stepping stone to get to the next thing. And I think because we've evolved so much and have gotten so complex, there's much more educators out there, like educator positions and instrument coordinator positions and data. We're talking about data, right? So a lot of hospitals, some of them have data specific roles where all you're doing is like looking at your tracking systems. And so I think if you truly want to make sterile processing a career in a in a true profession, like I think we're at a point now where it's starting to be looked at uh much more like seriously. And again, going back to like being the solution and not the problem, I think we have the ability to kind of pivot and be the ones who are looked towards and for to come up with the solutions, right? But like instead of SPDs the problem, saying, well, let's go talk to the SPD manager, like they probably know like how we can be more efficient or why our cases aren't on time or you know, how to make case cart building easier because we have all the information already, right? You know, so that's my hope and wish for the industry is that we continue to press for professional, career-driven job and not just something that's entry-level to fill the time till the next best thing.
SPEAKER_02:Say you have some technicians there, right? And they're, you know, sometimes you have those that are treating it as a job, like and you're thinking about, you know, SPD isn't the problem, it's the solution, which is the context of this podcast episode the days. How how are you as a manager um gonna change the mindset of someone who maybe is seeing it as a short-term thing and is showing up in how they're impacting culture or the energy that they're bringing? Like, how are you how should leaders try to navigate the culture to help this person to maybe shift their focus? How would you address that or how do you approach that as a leader?
SPEAKER_01:And I and I think that's hard. I mean, that's a challenge most leaders face for sure. Um, but it is up to the leader to drive the culture in their department. So if there's certain behaviors that are not professional, you know, those can be addressed. I think being open and transparent with whatever your career ladder is, and again, we'll will vary significantly from the size of the hospital week. I think my educator does a great job when we bring in new hires. He actually has a whiteboard that he brings in and it shows like new staff to say, hey, if you start out, at least for us, because in the state of Florida, it's not required to be certified. It's, you know, hey, you can start out, but then you can become certified, you know, as step one. And then if you're certified, you can become a lead or a supervisor, like what our career ladder is. Like he tells them on day one what their potential is. Now, obviously, we don't want to lose staff, but we also tell them, like, hey, you can go travel, like you can get certified and you can travel, and like there's a whole life, you know, career in that. Or, you know, some people veer off and go work um for a vendor, you know. Again, we don't want them leaving the hospital, but I think if they understand where their potential is, like it'll drive them to want to be better. But not everyone wants to be a manager, right? So, I mean, we're not trying to get people to want to be things that they don't want to be. But I think, you know, as a leader driving your culture of excellence, I try to always say the word professional all the time. I think when I was running for like HSPA president and we were doing our interviews, I again I try to always use profession, like you guys are professions, professionals to just kind of continue that culture of this is how I view you, like truly. Like, I mean, this is how I see us, so I'm gonna treat you like a professional. So if you're not being treated like a professional, you're probably not gonna act like one. So, I mean, that's lies on the leaders too, to make sure they're setting the tone for you know, walking the walk, not just talking the talk. So, like, I need to be professional in my behaviors as well. So, I mean, there's a few things you can you can do for that.
SPEAKER_02:But this is really great. Um, and my last question here is if you could change one perception about SBD overnight, like what would it be?
SPEAKER_01:That it's not complex. I think I think um it's often oversimplified, at least in conversations I've had with senior leadership. We have evolved over the last 25 years, but I don't know that the mindset of some some people believe that it has, and they still think it's very simple and and not complex, but it but it is. So if there was anything I could change overnight, is that people to understand that it is highly technical, you can't just hire, I mean, we can hire and train on the job, but it's not something that you can just go in and and wing it, because again, these are people's lives. And I tell my staff sometimes, like, I don't think you realize that in sterile processing, your how well you do your job can have a life-altering impact on someone else, right? So if you do your job really well, you can save a life. If you do it really poorly, and that one thing that was supposed to be in there isn't in there, like you could end a life. And that, I mean, that there is serious. I mean, so the job is very serious. The people working in the job should take it serious. Uh and again, that's why I think it needs to be viewed as a profession. You know, we are professionals, uh, and so it's not something that's, you know, overly simple. And, you know, what people like to say and get frustrated about is, oh, you're just putting stuff in a dishwasher, right? Well, no, this isn't this isn't plates and forks and spoons, it's a lot more complex and things come apart and and all of that. So I think if there was one thing I wish you know people knew or the perception that changed overnight was that that the job's easy because because it's not easy.
SPEAKER_02:That is for sure. That is for sure. Now this is great. I really like I said I really appreciate you taking the time. This has been such a valuable conversation. And what stands out to me is you know how you reframed SPD from being the so-called problem into a critical partner and and solution. So, you know, we've learned about you know leveraging data to build stronger collaborations with the OR, and you've given us a lot of practical ways to change the narrative and inspire you know, taking more pride in what we do every day. So for all those listening in, remember this sterile processing isn't just about instruments, it's about patient safety, surgical success, and teamwork. So if you're an SPD, you know that you are vital and your work makes every procedure possible. So Sarah, once again, thank you for sharing your wisdom and experience and and to our listeners, keep tuning into the sterilization station and don't forget to subscribe, share this episode, and keep growing with us. And uh once again, Sarah, we appreciate you for coming in today. I hope you enjoyed being on the sterilization station and you and hope you feel comfortable and welcome to come back anytime.
SPEAKER_01:Thank you.
