In-Person Continuing Education, Networking Essential for SP Professionals
Healthcare is an ever-evolving industry, with each discipline contributing uniquely and vitally to patient care and outcomes. For Sterile Processing, ensuring process quality, safety, efficiency, and consistency must be the primary goals of every technician and manager. Attaining those goals hinges on a commitment to continuing education and training and adherence to policies and procedures that are rooted in best practices and aligned with current standards, guidelines, and regulations.
Continuing education and professional advancement come in many forms, from in-department training and inservices to certification attainment, webinars, podcasts, magazine articles, journal studies, and in-depth conferences and chapter events. Each can contribute to an SP professional’s knowledge growth and skill set development; however, in-person education focused entirely on the discipline is among the most powerful ways to cultivate knowledge and new skills, learn the latest research and updates to standard and guidelines, and share ideas with peers and industry experts to improve service quality, infection prevention, and patient safety.
The Healthcare Sterile Processing Association’s (HSPA’s) annual conference is the leading in-person educational event for the profession, delivering dozens of expert-led sessions on the most pertinent topics impacting the discipline. The events not only provide valuable professional development opportunities (many worth continuing education credits that can be applied toward recertification) for new and seasoned SP technicians, educators, and leaders; they also facilitate quality networking with other industry professionals and vendor representatives. Attendees consistently share with HSPA that the knowledge gained from the events can be readily passed to their departmental teammates and implemented to elevate operational performance and outcomes.
The 2025 HSPA Conference, taking place in Louisville, Kentucky, April 26–29, will bring together more than 1,500 SP professionals across all titles and experience levels and provide education at every turn. Targeted learning begins with Saturday preconference labs and workshops, most of which are included in the price of full-conference registration and allow participants to apply their new-found knowledge in a hands-on format. Beyond the traditional educational sessions, attendee learning also carries into the profession’s largest vendor Expo, with supplier representatives available to demonstrate their latest products and services and answer questions. Numerous exhibiting vendors also provide in-booth continuing education worth CE credits.
Making a case for continuing education
HSPA recognizes that many facilities and their employees face budgetary restrictions and every financial decision, including attendance at offsite professional development and educational events, must be justified. For years, the association has provided a customizable “Conference Value Letter” to help SP professionals make a compelling case for attending professional events, including chapter meetings, national conferences, or other continuing education opportunities that become available.
Although it is not uncommon for some SP professionals to pay their own way and use vacation time to attend educational events that greatly benefit their employer, HSPA has been pleased to learn that many individuals who shared the value letter with their department’s leaders and, in some cases, facility executives, were able to attain financial support for attendance. With healthcare organizations establishing their budgets for the new year, there is no better time to request that funds be allocated for educational events and resources that will help promote best practices, service quality, and operational efficiency.
To learn more about the 2025 HSPA Conference, visit http://www.myhspa.org/2025conference. The Conference Value Letter can be downloaded at https://s6.goeshow.com/hspa/annual/2025/attendee-documents.cfm. HSPA encourages SP professionals to keep the value letter on file and modify it as needed for future educational programs or endeavors where administrative support is required or beneficial.
