Myth #1: Trust in a Reprocessing Renaissance Man
(or Woman)
A common misconception about creating an excellent sterile process-
ing department is the idea that they can revolve around one leader
who "has all the answers," one all-star who can come in and flip the
switch from struggle to success. But the truth is, there are no lone
ranger superstars in the reprocessing industry. Behind every leader-
ship accolade, every department recognition, every publicized process
improvement event is a team of CS experts who ensured that the hun-
dred or so steps it takes to properly process a surgical tray got done
on time and in good order.
Facilities who place the entire responsibility for hiring, firing, on-
boarding, training, coaching, development, supply ordering, process
improving, vision-casting, shift supervising, budgeting, quality-assuring
and OR communicating on the shoulders of a reprocessing manager
or supervisor are setting themselves up for a quality disaster. There
are many jacks-of-all-trades in the reprocessing world, but none rise
to the level of master. There is no such thing as a reprocessing poly-
math. Facilities that refuse to acknowledge the necessity of a support-
ing cast of leaders in their sterile processing departments will consis-
tently experience service breakdowns, quality challenges and leader-
ship burnout. Reprocessing excellence is a team sport.
Myth #2: Cost-Cutting Through Reprocessing
Leadership Overlap
Against the backdrop of tightening budgets and shrinking reimburse-
ments, it is not uncommon to hear the following questions posed to repro-
cessing leaders: "Do you really need a day-shift supervisor if you already
have a manager there?" "Can we just create a lead tech position instead of
supervisor on third shift?" "Why do you need a specialist to do your instru-
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