It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s… a Joint Commission Surveyor! Accreditation happens every three years, but we prepare for it every day. Will your next survey leave you with a fear of findings, or will you pass with flying colors? 

 This week on Season 18 “Investing in Instrument Safety” which is focused on getting our team the time, money, and support we need to protect our surgical inventory we meet with Angela Lewellyn, Director of Development and Research for Advantage Support Services as we discuss how a culture of accountability will impact your team’s survey readiness.  From having the right inspection equipment, to what a true competency is, Angela’s unique perspective highlights where the time and energy should be placed for patient and instrument safety. Tune in as we discuss the often-overlooked factors that will impact your next accreditation survey and learn how Infection Prevention can be your secret weapon for proactive change. It's all about tech centered results and survey success in this finale for season 18 of  the Beyond Clean Podcast. 

You know that technician right beside you in decontamination today? Yeah, that one breaking a sweat as they keep up with the 20 add-on cases that just rolled in. Well, they may just end up running the entire hospital one day. True story. On this episode of Season 18 "Investing in Instrument Safety," which is focused on getting our teams the time, money, and support we need to protect our surgical inventory, we sit down with Benjamin Brodersen, former Sterile Processing technician now President of Novant Health Ballantyne Medical Center, to discuss his experiences working his way from a frontline reprocessing technician, manager, performance improvement director, administrator, and finally hospital president in North Carolina. Tune in to hear his story of growth sparked by his early time in Sterile Processing, and how the mission-mindedness he developed there has carried him all the way to the C-Suite. Whatever you thought you knew about career progression, mentorship, and your hospital administrators, this interview might have a thing or two that surprised you! We hope you are inspired to dream big and do big things after listening in!

The big parts of instrument safety are kind of obvious. Buy high quality instruments. Treat them well. Thoroughly inspect every time. But what about the million other small things that need to happen to make these big things even possible? What are those critical prerequisites for instrument quality that must occur in our departments to enable our Sterile Processing teams to accomplish our mission for safe surgical care? On this Season 18 "Investing in Instrument Safety," which is focused on getting our teams the time, money, and support we need to protect our surgical inventory, we sit down with Garrett Hollembeak, SPD & Distribution Manager at Cincinnati Children's Hospital to chat about how his philosophy of bees impacts his approach to this complex topic. Tune in for this interesting conversation that blends nature's wisdom with frontline clinical insight that can help your team fight dirty better!

Is there such a thing as the perfectly set up tray? One that protects your instruments, makes the OR jump for joy, and above all, keeps the patients we care for as safe as possible? This week on Season 18 “Investing in Instrument Safety” which is focused on getting our team the time, money, and support we need to protect our surgical inventory we meet with Nicholas Day, Manager of Central Sterile Processing at University Hospitals to discuss how instrument tray set up can be a key factor in your team’s success. In this episode, Nicholas outlines what true collaboration with the operating room looks like and shares his process for achieving count sheet excellence. If tray standardization, set consistency, and instrument damage are part of your department’s focus this year, this is the episode for you! Join us as we discuss the tools, techniques, and tracking system hacks that will give your instruments, and patients, that next level of protection.

Do broken cultures inevitably lead to broken instruments? Does lack of trust between the Sterile Processing & Operating Room teams lead to lack of timely turnovers? On this Season 18 "Investing in Instrument Safety," which is focused on getting our teams the time, money, and support we need to protect our surgical inventory, we sit down with Jason Pacino Operations Manager Sterile Processing at Highland Hospital, to discuss his experiences overcoming the systemic challenges of "us vs them" between SPD & OR to build a quality program that serves both teams, and ultimately the patient, well. Tune in to hear the role frontline technicians play in this culture shift, how leaders can hardwire respect & collaboration across multiple departments, and what the tangible results of this commitment are in light of surgical instrument quality coming out of Sterile Processing. Drop your weapons for a moment and join us for a conversation on peace-making in the name of patient safety. We know you'll enjoy!

Quality assurance in Sterile Processing is more than a process to hardwire instrument safety. Sometimes it's an actual job description. On this Season 18 premiere of "Investing in Instrument Safety," a season focused on getting our teams the time, money, and support we need to protect our surgical inventory, we sit down with Valerie Lake, Lead MST and quality assurance advocate, to dive into the details of how quality assurance plays out in a real life setting. Tune in as we take you beyond the labels and buzz words into the practical experience and insight that can help you build a working QA program and role in your own department. From the what, to the why and the how, and everywhere in between -- if you're pursuing quality as a goal in your SPD, make it your goal to catch this episode today! 

Scopes are some of the most expensive devices we have in our inventory -- both flexible and rigid models. So, when these devices break or need replacing, it's always a pretty big deal. How do you address it in your facility? On this episode of Season 18 "Investing in Instrument Safety," which is focused on getting our teams the time, money, and support we need to protect our surgical inventory, we speak with Damon Miles, SPD Educator at Stanford Medicine Children's Health, Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, about the educational side of protecting these delicate windows into the patient.

Tune in to hear how best to position the high-value of these devices during your onboarding & training program, what kinds of protection gaps face us during the reprocessing & transportation phases, and some practical takeaways your team can implement today to further invest in saving your scopes from damage! We hope you can join us!

Off-site reprocessing and centralization is one of the hottest topics in the Sterile Processing industry today. With all the planning and coordination that goes into these mega-projects, how do you keep patient safety & instrument quality front and center?  On this Season 18 "Investing in Instrument Safety," which is focused on getting our teams the time, money, and support we need to protect our surgical inventory, we sit down with Frances Strauss, Clinical Director, Perioperative Services at Penn Medicine & Mark Graban Senior Advisory at Value Capture, LLC to discuss their first-hand experience navigating the complexities of the planning, construction, culture, & process improvement that revolves around instrument reprocessing in these settings. Tune in for their lessons learned and practical takeaways on everything from the impact of dirty data on our quality outcomes to the deep value of clinical collaboration in creating sustainable change across all of perioperative services. We hope you enjoy!