What do you get when you mix an unrelenting passion for processing with a commitment to hear from & deliver upon the needs of Sterile Processing customers on the frontlines? You get the team at Pure Processing, founded in 2010 and based in Carol Stream Illinois, who work tirelessly to develop and manufacture ergonomic solutions for easy, fast, safe and effective medical device pre-cleaning. Joining us for this week's Beyond Clean Vendor Spotlight™ is Dan Gusanders, Founder & CEO and Mega...
Feb 10, 2023•35 min
In this CE-approved release of Articles-On-The-Go, Hank Balch examines how better practices and safety can be achieved by a simple case cart lock--"The broad implications of an unassuming disposable case cart lock can have a dramatic impact on any number of sterile processing teams around the country. Locks can streamline your case picking and missing list identification. They can promote accountability and trust among OR and SPD teams. Ultimately, they can provide a greater measure of safety an...
Feb 09, 2023•6 min
What’s at the center of all the washing, assembling, and sterilizing in an SPD that keeps patients safe and surgeries moving forward? People. Skilled technicians who manage to get the job done regardless of the stressors, work environment, or available tools. As an industry, how to we recognize these sterilizing superheroes and help get them the tools and support they need? Dr. Peter Nichol, Pediatric Surgeon and industry advocate, joins us to discuss the general lack of peer-reviewed research i...
Feb 06, 2023•39 min•Season 19Ep. 6
When our industry talks about "instrument quality," what do we really mean? What does that quality standard actually give us? And where does it actually begin? Joining us for this Beyond Clean Vendor Spotlight™ is Alex Ebner, CEO of Wiggins Medical to speak with us about the origin of surgical instrument quality that reaches back to what some describe as the epicenter of instrument manufacturing excellence, Tuttlingen, Germany. Why is it so important to design devices that can effectively be cle...
Feb 03, 2023•41 min
In this CE-approved release of Articles-On-The-Go, Hank Balch talks about how you (yes, you!) can start creating sterile processing content of your very own. And it's easier than you may think! // "You don't have to be as prolific as William Shakespeare or as funny as Mark Twain to write a great blog post. In fact, no one even has to know your name at all. You just have to sit your butt down in front of that keyboard, get some creative juices going, and hit 'enter'..." To read this article, take...
Feb 02, 2023•6 min
Data makes the world go 'round when it comes to investment in Sterile Processing for staffing, equipment, and other resources. But what kind of data do we even get out of our surgical suites? What do our surgeons know about instrument data and what do they need to know? On this Season 19 episode of "The Surgeons We Serve," a season focused on spotlighting the intersection of surgeons & surgical instruments, we are joined by Dr. Martyn Knowles, Vascular and Endovascular Surgeon at UNC Health ...
Jan 30, 2023•37 min•Season 19Ep. 5
On this week's edition of the Beyond Clean Expert Series On-The-Go, tune in for the conversation entitled, "No Cookie Cutter Approach: Part 3". To hear more from this expert, follow us on Facebook and Linkedin, or subscribe to the Beyond Clean mailing list by visiting: https://educate.beyondclean.net/cleanfreaks or text BEYONDCLEAN to 22828 Do you know a #SterileProcessing expert who you'd love to hear from on our series? Or do you have a question for one of our current experts? Contact us at an...
Jan 28, 2023•2 min
What have you heard about UV-C Disinfection? Are all low-level disinfection devices created equally? Find out the truth about UV-C disinfection in this exciting Beyond Clean Vendor SpotlightTM with Gunner Lyslo, Founder and CEO of Surfacide. Learn how low-level disinfection with UV-C energy significantly reduces the presence of viruses and bacteria, and find out how it disinfects colonized surfaces in our operating rooms. We’ll also discover how providing an added layer of disinfection with Surf...
Jan 27, 2023•48 min
How does Sterile Processing remove the drama from trauma? Whether it is locating that one-of-a-kind set or turning over trays on the tightest timelines, trauma cases can spark chaos for both the operating room and central sterile. On this Season 19 episode of "The Surgeons We Serve," a season focused on spotlighting the intersection of surgeons & surgical instruments, we are joined by Dr. Derek Donegan, Orthopaedic Trauma surgeon, to discuss the best way to provide exceptional patient care i...
Jan 23, 2023•36 min•Season 19Ep. 4
On this week's edition of the Beyond Clean Expert Series On-The-Go, tune in for the conversation entitled, "How to Reduce Vendor Trays". To hear more from this expert, follow us on Facebook and Linkedin, or subscribe to the Beyond Clean mailing list by visiting: https://educate.beyondclean.net/cleanfreaks or text BEYONDCLEAN to 22828 Do you know a #SterileProcessing expert who you'd love to hear from on our series? Or do you have a question for one of our current experts? Contact us at any time ...
Jan 21, 2023•2 min
How do you ensure your endoscopes are procedure and audit-ready, going beyond the simple tracking of endoscopes across your facility? What if you had a guide to help your team walk through the complete endoscope reprocessing loop? On this Beyond Clean Vendor Spotlight™ series, we sit down with Amanda Prussing, SPM® Product Manager at STERIS, to discuss the SPM® Endo Workflow Solution, which supports all scope management processes, whether based on terminal sterilization or high-level disinfectio...
Jan 20, 2023•34 min
In this CE-approved release of Articles On-The-Go, Hank Balch takes a hard look at department drama and how to address it: -- "Personal matters aside, your sterile processing department has a mission to accomplish, and to do so, there is a certain standard for culture and communication that must be attained. Regardless of the reasons, department drama cannot be tolerated. When technicians begin focusing on each other’s personalities and not on the work at hand, we begin doing an injustice to our...
Jan 19, 2023•6 min
Ever heard the phrase, "It takes one to know one?" Well, in the case of Dr. George Cybulski, Associate Professor Of Surgery at St. George's University, "It takes one to teach one." You see, Dr. Cybulski isn't your average neurosurgeon and medical school professor -- he also happens to hold his Sterile Processing CSPDT certification. On this Season 19 episode of "The Surgeons We Serve," a season focused on spotlighting the intersection of surgeons & surgical instruments, we got to sit down wi...
Jan 16, 2023•34 min•Season 19Ep. 3
On this week's edition of the Beyond Clean Expert Series On-The-Go, tune in for the conversation entitled, "The SPD Detective: Finding Clues in Chemical Labels - Part 1". To hear more from this expert, follow us on Facebook and Linkedin, or subscribe to the Beyond Clean mailing list by visiting: https://educate.beyondclean.net/cleanfreaks or text BEYONDCLEAN to 22828 Do you know a #SterileProcessing expert who you'd love to hear from on our series? Or do you have a question for one of our curren...
Jan 14, 2023•2 min
Why are Sterile Processing groups on Facebook so popular? What makes us as an industry so hungry for community & connection? In this CE-approved release of Articles-On-The-Go, Hank Balch answers those questions and add some perspective of his own: "Ultimately, Sterile Processing Facebook groups have done what countless team building exercises and culture trainings never could - created a true, vibrant, industry community who finds value in one another as individuals, who honors other's accom...
Jan 12, 2023•6 min
When tiny lives are in the operating room, the superhero partnership between sterile processing and pediatric surgery makes a truly lifelong difference. On this Season 19 episode of "The Surgeons We Serve," a season focused on spotlighting the intersection of surgeons & surgical instruments, we are joined by Dr. Erik Pearson MD FACS, Pediatric Surgeon and founder of CITIZENSURGEON, to discuss the guardianship that comes from providing care in a patient’s first moments. Dr. Pearson describes ...
Jan 09, 2023•39 min•Season 19Ep. 2
On this week's edition of the Beyond Clean Expert Series On-The-Go, tune in for the conversation entitled, "Routine Monitoring: What Should I Know?". To hear more from this expert, follow us on Facebook and Linkedin, or subscribe to the Beyond Clean mailing list by visiting: https://educate.beyondclean.net/cleanfreaks or text BEYONDCLEAN to 22828 Do you know a #SterileProcessing expert who you'd love to hear from on our series? Or do you have a question for one of our current experts? Contact us...
Jan 07, 2023•3 min
Listen in, then click here to take your Surgio test drive! https://www.surgio.com/offers/test-drive // Is it possible to have true alignment between Supply Chain & Sterile Processing around the challenges of vendor management & vendor inventory? What if you didn't have to build these bridges alone? Joining us for this Beyond Clean Vendor Spotlight™ is Jeff Wertz, Chief Commercial Officer of Surgio Health and 2022-23 Beyond Clean Vendor Management Expert™ to speak with us about the power ...
Jan 06, 2023•42 min
On this CE-approved release of Articles-On-The-Go, Hank examines the reasons, risks, and potential reward of the Sterile Processing traveling/agency dynamics in departments across the US: "Sterile Processing departments across the country are struggling to recruit and retain high quality, experienced, and certified technicians. Much of this has to do with the pitiful compensations levels associated with the job grade (as low as $10/hour in some places). Hospital administrators and HR leaders are...
Jan 05, 2023•5 min
What's going on in the minds of our surgeons when the patient rolls in, and they take hold of the scalpel for their first incision? If we better understand the burdens of life & death they bear with each procedure, will that help how our Sterile Processing teams can effectively serve them? On this Season 19 premiere of "The Surgeons We Serve," a season focused on spotlighting the intersection of surgeons & surgical instruments, we sit down with Dr. Bryan Sagray, DPM FACFAS, foot & an...
Jan 02, 2023•43 min•Season 19Ep. 1
On this week's edition of the Beyond Clean Expert Series On-The-Go, tune in for the conversation entitled, "No Cookie Cutter Approach - Part 2". To hear more from this expert, follow us on Facebook and Linkedin, or subscribe to the Beyond Clean mailing list by visiting: https://educate.beyondclean.net/cleanfreaks or text BEYONDCLEAN to 22828 Do you know a #SterileProcessing expert who you'd love to hear from on our series? Or do you have a question for one of our current experts? Contact us at a...
Dec 31, 2022•2 min
On this CE-approved release of Articles-On-The-Go, Hank Balch examines what it's like to be on the "other" side of the instrument, and to experience surgery as a patient..."Ultimately, I was confronted with only one choice -- trust the process . I had to hope and believe that this Sterile Processing team had it together, that they were committed to being weapons of mass microbial destruction, every instrument, every time. The trays they would use for my procedure would have already been through ...
Dec 29, 2022•6 min
How can your Sterile Processing department move a directionless group of people with ineffective processes and a shortage of reprocessed instruments to a team that collaborates and communicates with the Operating Room on a regular basis? What practices or tools are necessary to improve communication between both departments, and within the SPD itself? On this week's Beyond Clean special release , we're sharing an exclusive interview from the 2014 HPN SPD Department of the Year award winner, SPD ...
Dec 26, 2022•1 hr
On this week's edition of the Beyond Clean Expert Series On-The-Go, tune in for the conversation entitled, "What's In Your Peel Pack?". To hear more from this expert, follow us on Facebook and Linkedin, or subscribe to the Beyond Clean mailing list by visiting: https://educate.beyondclean.net/cleanfreaks or text BEYONDCLEAN to 22828 Do you know a #SterileProcessing expert who you'd love to hear from on our series? Or do you have a question for one of our current experts? Contact us at any time v...
Dec 24, 2022•2 min
On this CE-approved episode of Articles-On-The-Go, listen as Hank Balch spells out the lessons that should be learned from headline grabbing quality breakdowns such as what happened at Porter Adventist Hospital in 2018. Could your facility be the next Porter? "We have learned the dangers are real and the damages to our patient trust and public relations are massive, but the determination to solve these issues is too often still met with half-hearted nods from a C-suite who assume if surgeries ar...
Dec 22, 2022•7 min
How many unsterile trays are waiting for you every morning when you arrive in Sterile Processing? Do you feel like you’re always playing catch-up, but constantly falling further behind? On this week's Beyond Clean special release , we're sharing an exclusive interview from the 2018 HPN SPD Department of the Year award winner, SPD Manager at Advocate Aurora Christ Medical Center, from our "Conference of Champions" event earlier this year. Theodule knows the feeling of overcoming unprocessed trays...
Dec 19, 2022•1 hr 5 min
On this week's edition of the Beyond Clean Expert Series On-The-Go, tune in for the conversation entitled, "SPD and OR Teams Must Create A United Front". To hear more from this expert, follow us on Facebook and Linkedin, or subscribe to the Beyond Clean mailing list by visiting: https://educate.beyondclean.net/cleanfreaks or text BEYONDCLEAN to 22828 Do you know a #SterileProcessing expert who you'd love to hear from on our series? Or do you have a question for one of our current experts? Contac...
Dec 17, 2022•2 min
How do you avoid human error within your critical Sterile Processing workflows? What can you do today to improve traceability and reduce time spent waiting on monitoring results at every stage of reprocessing? Joining us for this Beyond Clean Vendor Spotlight™ are Terragene team members Mark Duro CRCST, FCS, Industry Subject Matter Expert & Education Manager and Hisashi Konno, Biomedical Engineer & Product Specialist to speak with us about the role that constant innovation plays in keepi...
Dec 16, 2022•34 min
In this CE-approved episode of Articles On-The-Go, Hank Balch discusses the road to becoming a department leader and how to best navigate it: -- "If there’s one point where far too many new sterile processing professionals fail, it is realizing that every single day is an interview. You may think that because everyone else is doing it or because that’s how your trainer told you to do it, then it’s okay to engage in bad habits or related behaviors, but here’s the deal: nobody else is going to be ...
Dec 15, 2022•6 min
In many healthcare facilities, Sterile Processing departments fall under the reporting structure of perioperative services. The same cannot be said at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). The Central Processing department at this facility broke the mold when it joined forces with Supply Chain and created a new reporting structure within their surgical services. On this week's Beyond Clean special release , we're sharing an exclusive interview from the 2019 HPN SPD Department of the Ye...
Dec 12, 2022•1 hr
