HSPA

Following a two-year, pandemic-related hiatus of the Healthcare Sterile Processing Association (HSPA) in-person annual conference, this year’s event brought more than 900 attendees together for five days of top-quality education and networking in San Antonio, Texas. The expansive and technologically advanced Henry B. Gonzales Convention Center housed the conference and expo. It provided an ample and inviting space for attendees to learn, grow, share best practices, and engage with peers, renowned industry experts and leading product and service vendors in the sterile processing (SP) space. 

Sterile processing (SP) professionals are in high demand these days due to a mix of retirement, transitioning to other career fields and the so called “Great Resignation” that was largely spurred by the pandemic. It’s an eye-opening development and one that should make every health care organization take notice because of an essential fact: the critically important work that takes place in the sterile processing department (SPD) remains and must be performed by well-trained, qualified and dedicated professionals. 

The Joint Commission (TJC) released a new water management standard (EC.02.05.02. EPs 1-4), which took effect on January 1, 2022. Water quality is a very important component of medical device processing. While this new standard is designed to improve the quality and safety of care provided to immunocompromised hospital patients, it also contains water management measures that impact medical device processing. 

Competency is a term that relates to performance improvement, and professionals are expected to attain and cultivate it through experience and a desire to learn, grow and advance in their knowledge and skillsets. In the sterile processing (SP) environment, it’s important to examine how competencies are valued and applied. Are they viewed as a necessary evil or do SP professionals embrace the opportunities competencies can provide?

Multidrug-resistant organism (MDRO) infection outbreaks have been associated with flexible endoscopes, and review of processes and procedures used to reprocess these complex devices has revealed failures in reprocessing steps.

Sterile processing (SP) professionals must manage the seemingly countless instruments (sometimes, in the thousands) that flow through their departments.