We pay 2 pay grades below a surgical tech. We have 5 technical pay
grades for sterile processing techs. We created a career ladder that lets
techs advance with training and experience. We treat our reprocessors
as technicians as opposed to support services staff. We are a service
excellence depart-
ment, not a dishwash-
ing operation. What a
2-year turnaround it's
been. We've created a
long-term, highly sus-
tainable reprocessing
staff. Our turnover
rate is 13%. We have
65 central sterile
employees (45 FTEs)
covering our main
hospital, a secondary
specialty 4-OR ortho-
pedic hospital, a
rehab hospital and a
soon-to-open surgery
center.
• Cleaning verifica-
tion. You can't steril-
ize a device that's not
clean. Whether we're
disinfecting or steriliz-
ing our duodeno-
scopes, we run 3
cleaning tests to veri-
5 0 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • O C T O B E R 2 0 1 8
Properly dried channels
reduce the risk of infection.
• The Airtime Instrument Channel Dryer
uses HEPA fi ltered air to dry the air/water,
suction and auxiliary water channels after
automated reprocessing. Also available
with an instrument air option.
• Uses two independent pumps and timers
that will dry two scopes simultaneously.
Air pressure will not drop when you begin
drying a second scope.
• Airtime's dual screen allows for two
instruments to be dried with independent
start and stop times.
• Restricted channel sensors will
immediately shut off the Airtime pump
and alert the user of a potentially clogged
channel.
• Available options: IV pole mounted, wall
mounted or on a table stand.
