They show up at your department with clipboard in hand, taking notes as they walk through your processes, and ask a ton of questions. Who are they and what are they doing? On this Season 6 kickoff episode of Beyond Clean, we talk with David Taylor about the world of hospital consulting, zeroing in on those unique souls who call themselves Sterile Processing consultants. Tune in to get an insiders look at what these folks actually do when they come to your facility and hear about the many ways they might be able to help your team hit your target of SPD excellence. 

On the coast of Africa, standing on the deck of a Mercy Ship hospital, one individual looked out on the horizon as thousands of people lined up to receive medical care. It was a transformative moment; A moment that would be the genesis for the creation of the Safe Surgery Initiative (SSI).  We sat down and talked with Keith Miles, Executive Director of SSI. Mr. Miles who is on a mission to change the world by providing safe refurbished instrumentation to hospitals in low-to-middle income countries. What started off as a two-week mission became a lifelong passion to help the disadvantaged peoples of the world receive life-saving surgical care by providing safe instruments. Join our conversation and learn how YOU can contribute to this life-saving initiative.

Do we have a global surgical instrument quality crisis before us? Have you seen the data, and just as importantly, what would you do about it if you have? Leveraging data in healthcare is one of the most efficient ways to perpetuate improvement and change, but we are still on the cusp of seeing the full value to that data has to offer the Sterile Processing industry. We talked to Bryan Stuart and Jay Schrader about the actual numbers that help uncover the invisible surgical crisis that exists in today's hospitals. What does instrument quality & waste look like and how can we use data to build a case for the critical resources we need to keep patients safe? Tune in for insight on this important topic.

With the medical device world around us changing on a daily basis, why shouldn't we expect our Sterile Processing staffing technologies to change with it? On Episode 2, Season 6 of Beyond Clean, we talk with Brian Reed about predictive staffing in CS/SPD and discuss how data can be leveraged to make staffing decisions for your department that are more than just a good guess. Tune in to hear about how this innovative concept could change the way you approach the challenge of growing surgical volume and traditional staffing shortfalls. Grab your CFO, shift lead, and frontline technicians for this one!

What if the one thing standing between an endoscope and a safe outcome is the acknowledgement that antibiotics have been involved in one of the deadliest cover-ups on earth? It’s no secret that flexible endoscopes pose a safety risk. In fact, mishandled flexible endoscopes have been identified in ECRI’s Top 10 Health Technology Hazards for 2019 and have led to infectious outbreaks and death. Is sterilization of flexible endoscopes the ultimate solution or is there another option?  We talk to Dr. Larry Muscarella about the evolution of bacteria that has led to the need for a paradigm shift in endoscope reprocessing.

As Sterile Processing professionals, we crave challenging and meaningful work- why else would we be doing this? We want to learn, grow and contribute to our departments and healthcare facilities and connecting with other professionals plays a critical role in being able to do just that! In this episode we talk with Lindsay Brown to discuss the ways in which peer-to-peer and peer-to-mentor connection opens the door to new opportunities. She discusses the importance of professional and personal growth and introduces the idea of imposter syndrome in the sterile processing industry. What is imposter syndrome? Tune in now to find out!

In Sterile Processing departments surrounded on all sides by stainless steel, color tends to jump out at us. Whether it's a green handle on an insertion device, a red knee trial, or purple implant plating system, it's not uncommon to see little splashes of color in a number of different instrument trays. We sat down with Thor Rollins to have a crash course on medical device colorants, and talk about reasons for and risks of coloration on our surgical instrumentation. Can color additives cause harm to patients? How do manufacturers make decisions on these kinds of design questions? We tackle these topics and more with Thor, so grab your headphones and let's get to coloring!

Ultrasound probes are used in almost every department in healthcare today and reprocessing breeches have led to safety alerts issued by The Joint Commission in recent years. We sat down with Emily Smith, Clinical Marketing Specialist with CIVCO Medical Solutions, to discuss tangible solutions to the issues surrounding the reprocessing of ultrasound probes facing up to 75% of facilities. What do you need to know about reprocessing ultrasound probes and how can sterile processing professionals establish themselves as subject matter experts beyond issues related specifically to the operating room? Join us for this unique conversation to find out!