bodies are properly sterilized. Knowing how to care for thousands of
devices is difficult enough without the external influences and chal-
lenges that make their jobs even more challenging — surgical sched-
ules designed to increase case volumes and revenues, loaner trays
showing up at the last minute, and countless regulatory requirements
and recalls to manage.
"They work in a fast-paced, pressure-filled environment surrounded
by bacteria-slicked instruments," says John Beakes, chairman of
Operational Performance Solutions, a lean process consulting firm in
Westminster, Md. "And they're barely making a living wage. It's time to
appreciate and value the work they do."
Dr. Nichol says his 2-hospital system hosts 19,000 cases each year,
and loses nearly $1,000 per case in hard waste and decreased OR
capacities caused by instrument reprocessing errors and inefficien-
cies. "There are 51 million surgeries performed in the United States
each year," says Dr. Nichol. "This is a potential $50 billion waste prob-
lem that we have the know-how to solve in the next 10 years."
But how? Dr. Nichol's hospital is at the forefront of efforts to
reimagine sterile processing and is still having trouble making mean-
ingful changes.
Increasing how much techs earn is a good place to start. Some
Chick-fil-As starts its workers at $17 per hour, according to Ms.
Prince. She says her hospital used to pay reprocessing techs $4 less.
The director of surgical services rewrote the job description based on
the complexity of the responsibilities of the job and was able to bring
them up to a slightly higher pay grade.
Paying more for surgery's dirtiest job addresses only part of the
issue. Adventist Hospital's director of surgical services is also working
with local community colleges to develop an associate's degree pro-
gram for sterile processing, but that's far from the norm across the
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