ment ordering for you, can't the manager do that?" and on and on.
In the world of surgical services (with admittedly critical OR-RN
positions in play), the sterile processing list of FTEs looks mighty
enticing for number-crunching finance directors who are looking for
cost-saving "opportunities." After all, we're just cleaning instruments,
right? How many leaders do you need for that? Well, the real-world
answer is: as many as it takes to ensure quality, service and safety to
our patients. Because, in actuality, we are not "just cleaning instru-
ments," we are laying the foundation for a sterile, functional surgery.
Even though we can't point to a magic number or a foolproof orga-
nizational chart, if safe surgery is our aim, the days of viewing the
sterile processing department as the field from which you can harvest
excess positions must end. One manager by himself cannot lead a 3-
shift, 24/7 reprocessing department well. One supervisor by himself
cannot even lead 2 shifts well, without having additional support staff.
In fact, both the Association for the Advancement of Medical
Instrumentation (AAMI) and ECRI Institute recommend qualified
supervision of reprocessing activities on every shift.
Think of it this way: Each set of surgical instrumentation is like a
patient for us. Imagine the uproar if your hospital announced tomor-
row that there would no longer be charge nurses on the patient floors
for third shift. No nurse-to-nurse handoff from the evening to the
morning. It would be a complete disaster. And that is the very same
every-day disaster that many reprocessing departments are forced to
overcome because their support positions were sniped away in the
name of cost-savings. We need not even mention the cost of one HAI
or SSI to prove the underlying value of this point.
Myth #3: The Idea of Reprocessing Simplicity
Many in healthcare leadership still don't get that we're not living in
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