So the bullied respond by bullying and the vicious cycle goes on and
on, the oppression rolling downhill like, well, you know.
We hear so much about nurses dragging each other down, but you
know who might get crapped on the most in hospitals and surgical
centers? Sterile processing techs, viewed as the lowest of the low, the
dishwashers hidden away in a cramped, damp basement room.
Weston "Hank" Balch, CRCST, CIS, CHL, the system director of ster-
ile processing for University Health System in San Antonio, Texas,
writes a terrific blog about sterile processing. In a recent post, "The
Victims Downstairs: Surgeon Bullies and the Untold Sterile
Processing Story," Mr. Balch writes that "surgical bullying of sterile
processing professionals can go on for years unnoticed and ignored.
This happens more often than folks outside the industry may under-
stand, and more often than facility administrators may want to admit."
He's witnessed surgeons breaking scopes in half, cutting cords on
$5,000 probes and throwing orthopedic drills on the floor.
And that's not the worst of it. Mr. Balch has also seen surgeons sum-
mon the central sterile supervisor to stand before them in the OR, just
so they can dress him down in front of everybody — "orchestrated
professional embarrassment," he calls it.
Pity the poor supervisor. But I'd really hate to be the tech who
works for the supervisor. He doesn't know it yet, but he's about to get
swatted.
OSM
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