Last month HPN highlighted LeeSar in Fort Myers, FL as our 2017 CS/SPD Department of the Year. This month we would like to honor our top three finalists by highlighting a few of their most notable achievements.
To evaluate SPD Department of the Year nominations, Healthcare Purchasing News recruits a variety of staff members, editorial advisory board members that also are active professionals in the relevant field segments of the industry and the leader of the previous year’s winning department. Congratulations to Stony Brook University Hospital, University of Iowa Hospitals and Wesley Healthcare on their 2017 Honorable Mention status. Here are some notable comments and observations from this year’s judging team:
Stony Brook University Hospital, Stony Brook, NY
“For the customer service, teamwork and education/training categories, I was very impressed by this work: ‘One of the educational programs in place is for central sterile technicians rotating from every shift to observe actual surgical procedures. The technicians then provide feedback on how we can improve our service skills; this has provided excellent results in improving surgeons and nurses satisfaction by our presence in the suite.’ All of this demonstrates the work Stony Brook Medicine has done to elevate the role of CS/SPD, foster a great working relationship with the OR and give techs hands on skills and knowledge to effectively meet clinical needs.
“Stony Brook is a traditional-based central sterile processing area that responds to their customer needs. They have developed a ‘safe space’ for instrument handling and management similar to the airline cockpit protocols. The Central Sterile Supply team is building its reputation and will become a key player in the highest standards of instrument production.”
University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City, IA
“University of Iowa takes the lead [in] managing cross functional teams. [They] defended the need for an educator. [They] aligned their strategic plan with the overall healthcare organization’s organizational strategy.”
[Quoting from the nomination’s Education and Training category]: “Specific to on-the-job training we have implemented an internal tray auditing program where we are auditing over 3,000 trays a month (up from zero a couple of years ago). This not only prevented defects from leaving the department but also allowed us to give real time feedback to our staff as teaching moments. Education and Training continue to be a focus for us. We were able to demonstrate the need and add an Educator to our staff. We were also able to reclassify this position at a management level to attract top talent.”
“The Flexible Endoscope Reprocessing Center sounds like a great feat, creating a state-of-the-art facility implementing best practices for staff and function.”
Wesley Healthcare, Wichita, KS
“The work they have done to reduce OR frictions by 96 percent is a strong indicator of their commitment to customer service. The in-services and incentives [for education and training] were positive… they reimburse fees related to training or certification, and offer bonuses [for training completion].”
“Wesley understands that SPD is the manufacturing arm of the medical center and affiliates. They are proud of their customer service, production, teamwork, education and strategic planning strategies. FTEs are very lean, and it is a wonder how they accomplish all that they do with such lean staffing. Leadership gives them full support. They have contractor support and C-suite support that will allow them to expand, enhance and update their physical space.”
Visit https://www.hpnonline.com/elevating-the-spd-profession/ for the complete profiles.
