All for one and one for all isn't just a slogan for the growing number of centralized reprocessing centers in the United States. More and more Sterile Processing leaders and technicians are experiencing the pressures of growing surgical volume, limited space, and health systems looking for more standardization. On this premiere episode of Season 9 of Beyond Clean, we talk with Lori Ferrer, BS, CST, CRCST, the Director of the Central Processing Center at Fairview Health about the growing trends of the centralization of Sterile Processing services in the US and discuss how & why her team received national recognition for their department in 2020. Tune in for her insights on their journey and encouragement for how to further engage surgeons and administrators on the critical work your reprocessing teams are doing every day.

Sterile Processing technicians have been on the frontlines of the fight against viruses long before anyone ever heard of COVID-19. In fact, there are many types of dangerous viruses that our teams can and do encounter on a daily basis, and our departments have to be prepared to kill them all. On this Season 9 episode of the Beyond Clean podcast, we bring back an audience favorite, Wava Truscott, PhD to delve into the details of virus-ology and give us a quick lesson on these submicroscopic infectious agents. Tune in for her crash course on understanding viruses and learn what your team can do to ensure these dangerous bugs never make it out of your departments alive.

Why does it matter that patients in the OR waiting room know the name "Sterile Processing" and have an idea of how our teams contribute to their safe surgery? How can our industry tell our story in a way that opens the public's eyes to the invaluable role we play in healthcare? On this episode of the Beyond Clean podcast, we sit down with the director & producers of "Beyond the Tour," brothers Aaron & Christian Ankrum, to talk about the power of story telling to change hearts and minds, and provide a roadmap for changing an entire global industry. Tune in for this unique conversation that raises critical points around creativity, passion, and purpose in our corner of the healthcare universe.

One may be the "loneliest number" in the lyrics of the classic rock band Three Dog Night, but zero is the number Sterile Processing professionals love to see in their departments. In particular, zero is the ultimate goal for teams seeking to reduce their hospital's Immediate Use Steam Sterilization (IUSS) rate. On this episode of Season 9 of the Beyond Clean podcast, we sit down with Jason Pacino, CRCST, Sterile Processing Operations Manager at Highland Hospital of Rochester NY to discuss why his team focused on this metric, and how they got to that magic number as a hospital. Tune in for his modern day success story, and ideas for how your Sterile Processing team could one day close your IUSS autoclaves for good!

Few topics are as debated in Sterile Processing circles today as the topic of "event related sterility" and packaging shelf life. If packaging has a shelf life listed in the IFU, do you have to follow it -- or can hospitals decide to do their own thing? Does an extended period of storage constitute an "event"? How do manufacturers determine shelf life in the first place? The questions are endless, but on this week's episode of the Beyond Clean podcast we bring the dynamic duo of Jennifer Benolken and Malinda Elammari onto the show to start setting the record straight on some of the issues that confuse department personnel and accreditation surveyors alike.

When you hear the word "research" what comes to mind? Cure for cancer? New sources of renewable energy? How about better ways of decontaminating surgical instrumentation or data-driven programs for educating new technicians so that they not only enjoy the job but stay in the industry for decades? On this episode of the Beyond Clean Podcast, we sit down with Lisa McKown, DrPHc, MBA, CRCST, CIS, CHL, MBTI (Manager, Research & Development at Beyond Clean) to discuss the critical need for more research into the Sterile Processing field, and get to the heart of how further study can change our industry for the better. Tune in for this unique conversation around writing, the challenges of perfectionism, and how she is researching ways to keep pushing our Sterile Processing departments forward. 

On this episode of the Beyond Clean podcast, we dust off that library in your manager's office to take a look at a one particular document you may have never cracked open before - ANSI/AAMI ST58:2013 (Chemical Sterilization and High-Level Disinfection in Health Care Facilities). To help us with this little exploration into the pages of recommended practices, we invited Janet Prust, Director of Standards and Global Business Development at 3M Health Care. Don't miss this opportunity to get an important overview of the topics covered in ST58 and gain insight into the world of high-level disinfection from one of the leading subject matter experts in the field. 

Scientists, engineers, and manufacturers across the globe are racing to find answers to the challenges facing endoscope reprocessing in the 21st century. But are there differences in how these issues are being addressed depending on which country is making the standards? How have various infectious outbreaks impacted these discussions in Europe & the United States? On this episode of the Beyond Clean podcast, we invited

Nick Bromiley, AGTS, CFER, CSPDT, ARIA, Clinical Training Specialist at Ambu USA to weigh in on these conversations and provide insight as both a trainer and technical specialist in endoscope reprocessing. Tune in for one of our favorite themes on our podcast -- the science of reprocessing & the reality that microorganisms don't care about geographical boundaries.