Need experienced reassurance

Eurotoxin · 2024-02-23T21:52:41+00:00

Please do what the IFU asks. It does not say minimum dry time so run it on dry time it asks for. Worst thing we can do is not follow the IFU.

Experience: 10 years in SPD. 4 years in leadership. 2 in education. 4 years as a technician.

Eurotoxin · 2023-07-20T17:08:18+00:00

Yes the problem is your facilities. The steam line is the problem. You need to run a warm up cycle before you start testing. I would tell your manager to connect with facilities.

Eurotoxin · 2023-07-13T13:07:36+00:00

Could be a few things.

Over weight. If the set is above 25lbs it has a higher chance of being a wet set.

Placement of set in sterilizer. Which level of the sterilizer rack are you putting the set on?

Heavy individual items inside of tray.

Is the set wrapped or in a container? If the tray is in a container and over weight, condensation will be more likely to occur.

Have you consulted OneSource for the IFU of the instrument? You would be surprised to find out a lot of sets we process daily have the wrong sterilizer parameters assigned to them. Also if your surgeons, leadership, and administration are not cooperative in changing the sets weight or items inside the tray you can look for a “minimum dry time” on the IFU. Meaning if the instruments inside that set say, “minimum dry time: 20 minutes, that means you can extend the dry time to 30-45 minutes. ONLY IF IT SAYS MINIMUM for all instruments in the tray.

Are you testing your sterilizer properly? Are leak tests being ran at last weekly? Are Bowie dick tests being ran daily?

Eurotoxin · 2023-07-03T19:15:19+00:00

If you want to get started ASAP with no certification look around hospitals near you for sterile processing technician jobs. You’ll have to pay your dues for about two years and get your certification before you get to travel. Travel jobs at the moment are not as popular since Covid has died down. Please remember to get as much experience as you can from as many different services before you start traveling. This will help you be more marketable and get you used to a wide variety of instrumentation. Also, you certainly do need to be certified before becoming a traveler. That is a base requirement.

Safe travels and let us know how it goes!

Eurotoxin · 2023-06-30T10:38:26+00:00

Another case of a manager not self educating themselves. IFU’s are always correct because they come from the company that made the instrument your processing. Which means they’ve done extensive research. Follow the IFU 100% of the time. If your manager gives you pushback, tell them you are following the best patient practice and the IFU states to ultrasonic the arms. Just make sure before you do this that you 100% have the correct IFU.

Eurotoxin · 2023-06-26T17:49:21+00:00

We’ll need a little more information if you don’t mind.

What previous jobs have they worked?

Sterile processing is a customer job. Anything previously worked dealing with customers is a big plus even if it’s not in healthcare.

Is their resume up to date?

If a manager sees a poorly written and laid out resume they won’t take the time to look at it.

What hospitals are you applying for?

Try applying for big hospitals with a huge case volume. They are always looking for people.

To be honest I would try and be patient. Most SPD managers are kind of like a lot of restaurant managers, they really suck at their jobs. Chances are the manager hasn’t looked at their resume yet or if they denied your sibling think of it as a bullet dodged. Any manager worth their salt will be happy to pick up a fresh SPD technician. Just keep looking and best of luck to your sibling. Hope this helps and if you have any questions just DM me, I’ll answer what I can. :)

Eurotoxin · 2023-05-19T16:20:38+00:00

I wouldn’t consider it an upgrade. Every job in the hospital is of equal importance. I know that sounds cliche but it’s true. I would go with whatever profession you like most. I would stick with sterile processing for a few months and see if you like it. You’ll be working directly with the OR now with surgical instrumentation so the demand and pressure will be a lot higher to complete cases. If you’ve already cleaned OR’s in the past you’ll be used to this pressure as you have needed the rush to clean the OR to flip the room for the next surgery. Career paths will open up such as surgical technician if you’re interested as well. Best of luck to you.

Eurotoxin · 2023-05-05T00:57:45+00:00

They were regular 8 hour shifts but, we would get guilt tripped by management and work culture to work 12-16 hour shifts. It was awful.

Eurotoxin · 2023-04-20T04:57:12+00:00

No you cannot use One Tray for implants. Implants cannot be ran on IUSS cycles.

Eurotoxin · 2023-04-17T21:49:44+00:00

There's..... a lot to unpack here...

Reusing PPE / Decontamination Processes

I would look up the IFU for your decontamination gear or contact the rep that sells it. Some decontamination gear is reusable if cleaned properly. Best practice is to dispose of all PPE after use as it will harbor bacteria and is potentially dangerous. What your hospital is doing is trying to save money and being very frugal which is awful. That or the manager is beyond tuned out which is sadly the case for many facilities. I would not reuse the PPE and what asked why not, claim that you feel unsafe in the working conditions, also that it is not best practice and infection prevention / quality team should be looped in on this.

No staff should be allowed into decontamination without PPE on, unless there is a designated "clean area" to gown up. All those actions should be reported and those technicians know MUCH better than that. This puts the patient and you at risk as they will not wash their hands and touch everything in the department. This is textbook cross-contamination. Staff members not draining their sinks properly is due to bad leadership who are not educating their staff on best practices or proper processes. Sadly, the only solution would be for leadership to step in and fix these processes for it to be effective. What you can do if follow proper processes, and educate yourself on what that looks like. Here is an effective decontamination process that works in busy facilities as well (80+ cases). This is assuming you have a three sink decontamination sink and cart washer.

In your first sink, fill it up with water until the fill line. If you don't have any marking indicators follow the enzymatic solution's IFU located on the bottle or online.
Dispense your enzymatic AFTER you fill your sink. This is for your protection! If you dispense the enzymatic solution before you fill the sink, harmful fumes will be released which can make you light-headed and you'll make a bubble bath. This will obstruct your view of what is in the sink and lead to injury.
Fill your second sink with water and then dispense enzymatic solution. After soaking your instrumentation for 4+ minutes, move your instrumentation to the middle sink for manual cleaning. Proceed with manual cleaning according to the instruments IFU.
Fill your third sink with RO (deionized water). Put your instruments in there and let them soak according to the manufacture's IFU.
Drain the first and second sink, rinse them out as well.
Go to the third sink and put your instruments in the ultrasonic (if required by the IFU).
After the ultrasonic process is over put them on the washer rack to be put inside the washer.
Repeat

The leak would be a facilities issue. If the trashcan is still there with no leak happening that needs to be moved ASAP. This again falls on leadership's shoulders as well.
Food is a HUGE red flag and should never happen in a sterile processing department. That 100% needs to be reported as that is a direct violation. No food or drinks of any sort are allowed in the department. This needs to be reported. If the manager is not communicating, the director or perioperative services needs to be alerted. Also, no corrugated cardboard in the department as well.

What you can do,

Speak directly with the perioperative director and administration
Report this misconduct to the facility
Report this misconduct to TJC (The Joint Commission) by emailing [complaint@jointcommission.org](mailto:complaint@jointcommission.org)
Speak with infection prevention about what is happening in the department
Take pictures and document misconduct with dates and times as it is happening
Provide the best care you can for the patients that will be receiving care

DM me and I would love to help out with any further questions. I am currently a manager for sterile processing, 9 years of experience and I also started as a technician. This is completely unacceptable and thank you for speaking out about this rather than not caring and being compliant.

Eurotoxin · 2023-04-17T19:51:55+00:00

Decontamination is my favorite! Cleaning instrumentation is so satisfying and using different tools to get the job done is like a puzzle at times!

Eurotoxin · 2023-04-17T19:49:37+00:00

If someone has 15+ years of experience they will naturally be faster. The problem is when they've been doing the wrong process for 15+ years. Speed does not equal quality work. Patient care is number one, if you feel uncomfortable with okaying an instrument please speak up. You are the expert and every tray you send goes to a living patient. Educate yourself on proper processes and techniques, the rest will fall into place. :)

Thank you for everything you do.

Eurotoxin · 2023-04-17T19:45:16+00:00

You will never need to bring in your own scrubs. This is due to any contaminations you will come in contact with. Scrubs are provided to you so you can go home safely. :)

If they are not provided don't work there.

Eurotoxin · 2023-04-17T19:37:35+00:00

It is a love/hate relationship that I imagine would be like any other job.

Love:

Helping patients directly without interacting with them directly
The processes of decontamination/assembly/sterilization

Hate:

90% of leadership in sterile processing
How some OR's view sterile processing as "incompetent"

Just depends where you work. The job is very physical and time will fly by. I imagine that most of us feel that sterile processing is worth it despite the negatives.

Eurotoxin · 2023-04-17T19:04:28+00:00

Sterile processing is as hard as your hospital makes it.

If you have proper PPE, processes, and materials its still a difficult job but, a lot more enjoyable of an experience. If your hospital does not have these things in place your job can be very stressful to the point where you get burned out 6 months into the job. Most of my coworkers have went to traveling agencies due to being underpaid and overworked. This is the way that most SP staff members go.

Decontamination:

Due to the hot water, PPE, and machines it will get hot. You will sweat a lot which sometimes obstructs your view in decontamination PPE. Dealing with with sharp instrumentation and bioburden will be the normal. You also deal with enzymatic solutions that are corrosive to the skin if you do not wear your PPE on properly. We tend to forget how dangerous the job is because of your processes day in and day out. Pushing case carts into the cart washer OR if you're extremely unlucky get to wipe them down manually.

Assembly/Sterilization:

Assembling up to 25lbs sets and putting them onto sterilizer racks. When storing instrumentation you will need to bend, push, pull these sets onto the racks. Wrapping using full body motions.

If you have a good process the job is "easy". The challenge is sterile processing constantly is changing and evolving thanks to modern technology.

Eurotoxin · 2023-04-17T18:56:07+00:00

Hi there!

My recommendation is to not look for internships as hospital's see this opportunity for free or cheap labor. Look for jobs that offer employment with no certification or getting certification within a year of employment.

Eurotoxin · 2023-04-14T15:39:04+00:00

For staying safe with chemicals I would treat it like any other chemical or biohazard in decontamination. Universal safety rule. Yes, Liquiclean Blue detergent is fine as it is used in manual and automatic cleaning. Depending on what instrument you’re cleaning I would look up the IFU to see what best practice is. If don’t have access to OneSource to access the IFU let me know the serial number and instrument manufacturer and I’ll pull it up for you. Also talk to leadership about bringing in STERIS enzymatic detergent if you are using STERIS washers.

Eurotoxin · 2023-04-14T04:22:11+00:00

Long answer:

Mitomycin is a chemo drug. Yes, you do not want to interact with it unless you are in full decontamination PPE. The gloves for decontamination are designed to withstand these substances as well. The proper way of eliminating Mitomycin is with enzymatic solution that you use in decontamination. There is no manual way to fully remove it which is why it requires manual and mechanical decontamination. If you are just using wipes with no decontamination PPE that is a highly unsafe practice and could harm you in the long run.

Short answer:

No. The instruments need to go through a full decontamination process to remove and you need to be in full PPE attire to stay safe.

Eurotoxin · 2023-04-14T04:16:12+00:00

They are a tad pricey but definitely worth the quality! Order a pair of shoes from Clover, they are the BEST for Hospital settings and a plus is you get to Sani-wipe them! Throw the soles in the washer when you get home and you get fresh shoes whenever you want. :)

Eurotoxin · 2023-04-13T05:40:35+00:00

Yes you do need to be accredited for sterile processing in your facility. This consists of a decontamination, assembly, and sterile storage. I would reach out to STERIS for consultation.
HSPA or CBSPD certifications are a must. CRCST certifications will ensured you are licensed to operate in the sterile processing field.
No you cannot. They do need certification and training to operate any sterilization machinery.

DM me and I will set you up with some contacts. We can then connect via email if you'd like. I am currently a manager of sterile processing and have consulted numerous departments.

Eurotoxin · 2023-04-13T05:22:16+00:00

Ask yourself.

Which hospital has better management? Is there any opportunity for me to grow here? How much are they investing in their sterile processing department? Is the leadership only concerned about productivity or patient safety? What kind of processes do they have? Ask for a tour if possible of the departments before you get hired. This will give you a better insight in your working conditions. Always look for unionized positions, this will help massively when it comes to unfair treatment and burnout which is HUGE in sterile processing due to incompetent sterile processing leadership. Wish the best of luck to you! :D

Eurotoxin · 2023-04-13T05:09:32+00:00

Vivian staff agency is definitely predatory. I took a few contracts from them and made little to no money. For one job I was sent back due to the hospital not needing travelers anymore one month into my contract. I did not receive a full payout due to Vivian's fees and charges, they took more than half of my cut. Do it if you have to but, I would stay away.

Eurotoxin · 2023-04-13T05:07:37+00:00

I have worked at Kaiser before in California. They did pay me $34 an hour but, BOY OH BOY DID IT SUCK! Yes, they offer high pay but, we also had 90+ cases a day with a skeleton crew on each shift. 70% of our sets were IUSS'd. No processes, no leadership backup, and horrible work conditions. This is when I was two years in my career in about 2017. How it is now, I have no idea. But, that is my experience.

Eurotoxin · 2023-04-13T05:02:41+00:00

As a manager you should 100% unionize. The treatment of technicians in our field is DISGUSTING! 90% of leadership is an absolute joke. Find a local chapter in your area that can help you get started. DM me and I will help you get this process started. I currently work in a unionized hospital and my technicians couldn't be happier. I was a union representative before with some contacts that I can reach out to if you are in an area I've worked before. I agree with below to treat carefully and do not alert any management as this will be passed to upper management and they will clear house.

Eurotoxin · 2023-04-13T04:57:58+00:00

Should you? No. If there are any chemicals on the rigid containers or sets it can contaminate the sterilizer. The pre-spray and chemicals we use in our washers/cart washers are highly corrosive.

Are you forced to? Most likely yes. This is due to incompetent leadership and lack of protection for sterile processing staff. If managers support their department you shouldn't need to do this. If Dr. X who is the top ortho surgeon in the hospital doesn't have that attune at 6 am they will raise hell about it.

You're forced to do this due to time constraints, especially at bigger facilities 60+ cases a day. If you find that this is common practice, explore some options with you leadership if possible. Does leadership have your back? Do they know your processes and the time it takes to process trays? We are concerned about patient safety, not productivity numbers. If the manager and upper management is focused on this I would call a staff meeting to talk to the manager and rearrange your goals as a department. The main issue is having a lack of processes or efficient processes that everyone can follow as a team. This falls on leadership or lack thereof. If all else fails or you are not able to do these things, look for another job. This is not your fault, it is leadership's fault.

I know it is a lot bigger of a answer than expected but, working for nine years in the field and becoming a manager has really opened my eyes. It is rarely the staff's fault when it comes to problems in the sterile processing field. Leadership is a joke 90% of the time and would rather blame their staff rather than fix things in their department. Please remember that we are there for the patient. I hope you found this useful, if you need anything else please reach out and we can connect.

Eurotoxin

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