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From a Staff Position to Management

Oct. 29, 2014

Here is the ninth in a series of insights from Michele DeMeo, former CS Director, HPN Editorial Advisory board member, FDA special employee, product developer and independent consultant. Michele can be contacted via LinkedIn.

It happened. You worked so hard as a sterile processing technician, or are an operating room nurse wanting a change and you find yourself the manager of SPD now. You had no idea how it happened, or you did, but are suddenly finding yourself a little underprepared. Do not worry. All transitions take time.

Not all find a comfortable linear path. Some even emerge out of necessity and may not even be wanted. Or there are a thousand other potentials. Regardless of how you got there, you are now part of “management”.

Here are few tips to help you better manage the transition:

Review the job description again and again.
Pair up with a non-SPD manager to learn about general business and management processes, necessities, techniques and tasks specific to your facility.
Reach out to other SPD managers outside of your facility to learn about how to leverage your skills with functional departmental necessities.
Take some business courses.
Visit other facilities and shadow some peers who have more experience in managing sterile processing.
Admit you have a ton to learn and actively seek out information and experiences to add to your acquired skills bucket.

Over time and maybe slowly, you will gain the confidence and experience needed to overcome the challenges often associated with a new role of managing a department when your primary experience was previously limited to technical or clinical tasks. Others will work with you and are forgiving, but you must commit to improvement, consistently and constantly!