STERILE PROCESSING CERTIFICATION ACHIEVEMENTS – ISSUE NO. 223

I would like to share my Sterile Processing department's inspirational story. I love my position as the Sterile Processing Department Supervisor and I'm very passionate about having the right team and the right tools for the job. Sterile Processing is a very important department and has a huge responsibility of processing and sterilizing all departments' scopes and surgical instrumentation. Many do not realize the significance of the Sterile Processing Department and the true weight of the tasks put on the SPD team each and every day. Following the proper policies and standards of the facility as well as complying with all government agencies and encompassing the knowledge to properly process anything which comes through our department.   I've been in the position as Sterile Processing Supervisor at Holy Spirit Hospital for just under a year now and in that time I have hired a handful of employees who not only had the thirst for knowledge about our specialty, but also the motivation to want to become certified. Originally, a very small amount of the department was certified, my goal was to change that. Now we are almost at 100% of certified Sterile Processing staff and we have an amazing team. Each employee knows what to do and how to process everything which is given to them. Having not only the knowledge of what to do, but also the certificate giving confidence to the employee, greatly helps overall team and department morale. We do provide a service to the patient and our direct contact is through a surgical instrument.   Below is the list of all of my current employees and their most recent certifications. There are two main companies which provide SPD certifications, CBSPD and IAHCSMM. When I started in this role as Sterile Processing Department Supervisor I revamped the department and built additional tech levels. Tech I is little experience and no certifications. Tech II is SPD certified and Tech III is SPD certified as well as Instrument certified. As you see the majority of my staff has some sort of certification and many have chosen to go all the way to a Tech III, which is great! So far I have had great interest in the next certification window coming this November. I'm big on education and I am glad that I set the system up this way. Emily Buttermore - CBSPD Surgical Instrument Specialist Certification (Tech III) Javier Lozano - IAHCSMM Certified Instrument Specialist (Tech III) AAMI Acting & Voting Member Rebecca D'Amico - IAHCSMM Certified Instrument Specialist (Tech III) Robin Creek - IAHCSMM Certified Instrument Specialist (Tech III) William Park - IAHCSMM Certified Instrument Specialist (Tech III) Ronnie Maynard - IAHCSMM Certified Instrument Specialist (Tech III) Kyle Burks - CBSPD Surgical Instrument Specialist Certification (Tech III) Kristen Goodwin - CBSPD Surgical Instrument Specialist Certification (Tech III) Angela Ross - CBSPD Technician Certification (Tech II) Tim Fedor - CBSPD Technician Certification (Tech II) Patrick McCarty - CBSPD Technician Certification (Tech II) Yashira Perez - CBSPD Technician Certification (Tech II) Seherzada Prasko - CBSPD Technician Certification (Tech II) Yvette Myers - IAHSCMM Sterile processing Certification (Tech II)   As you see the majority of my Sterile Processing staff is well educated and certified in the ever changing and constantly growing world of Sterile Processing. Certification is important and it drastically improves the overall team motivation within the department. My department has pride and each of my team members understand their importance in the vital cog of the health care delivery process. Thank you!