CATEGORY: Prep & Pack

Oct 03, 2023

Obtaining Training and Educational Resources for SPD

In August, we brought our Voice of the Customer panel together to delve into a topic that SPD professionals across country identified as top-of-mind in our 2023 SPD State of the Industry Report: training and education. One of the most challenging aspects of addressing training and education concerns in sterile processing is acquiring the resources to provide to your team. We collaborated with Gene Ricupito, Sr. Project Manager, Sterile Processing at University of California San Franscisco (UCSF) to dive deeper into this topic.   Determining what resources to use Figuring out what resources you want to use to achieve your training and educational goals can be tricky. There’s an abundance of material to choose from or create. The first action Gene takes is conducting an assessment to determine general competency of his team. “Does it tell me I have a high performing, low performing, or average performance workforce. That’s going to inform how rapidly I need to take action.” With an understanding of your team’s competency understood, the next step is to incorporate your department’s larger strategic goals to ensure that the training and educational tools you deploy develop your team in support of achieving those goals. “It’s like that old saying about skating to where the puck is going to be, not where it is right now.” Gene explained. Ricupito recommends creating a 2–3-year training and education plan that informs the resources you’ll deploy. A few examples to consider: “Our department is expected to grow significantly, I need to make sure I’m giving key team members the ability to develop leadership and management skills.” “We’ll be taking over scope reprocessing after this project is completed, it’s important to get a few teammates trained up on scopes.” “The facility’s robotics volume is expected to go up this year, the newer members of my team would benefit from additional in-servicing to make sure we can keep up.” As the goals of your department are identified, you can begin determining which resources will best serve your team’s needs.   The most valuable training and educational resources Most departments have a mix of resources they leverage for training and education. Ricupito and our VOC panel identified the resources that they consider to be most valuable to include: Source materials: Having the source materials, such as print and digital versions of ANSI/AAMI standards, Joint Commission requirements, as well as manufacturer’s Instructions for Use (IFU) for equipment and instruments can help teams easily reference and reinforce their knowledge of them. Vendor-created resources: Many digital videos and courses have been created and made available by vendors; these are some of the most popular, especially in departments that don’t have dedicated educators. In-services: Ricupito emphasized that the most impactful way to keep teams trained on instrumentation and equipment is to have vendors come onsite for in-person in-services. This allows teams to ask questions and get clarity. Physical/Hands-on workshops: Giving teams the ability to handle and learn about equipment and instruments in a no-pressure environment allows them to better familiarize themselves with them when they’re not pressed for time. Creating training and educational content in-house There are many benefits associated with departments creating training and educational content on their own: Laser focused: When developing your own training and educational resources, departments can zero-in on what their department needs. Rather than trying to hunt down several resources that cover a certain topic, educators can create optimized content to meet their department’s unique needs. Trim the fat: Content created internally doesn’t contain unnecessary information that may confuse or bog down the person consuming it. In-house educational tools can get straight to the point, reducing the amount of time needed and distilling information into easily digested formats. Department-specific: Training resources developed in-house can include department-specific information, such as images, diagrams, SOPs and workflows that are currently in use. This gives them a clearer understanding of how the training and education applies within the department they’re a part of. Internally-developed central sterile training and educational resources aren’t easy to create. Some barriers to entry are associated with creating content on your own: Bandwidth: Creating resources internally requires the bandwidth to do it well. If a department is unable to commit the time to developing valuable, thorough education, they’re probably better off using pre-existing ones. Skillset: Educational content creation requires certain subject matter expertise that not all departments will have on their team. Investment: Home-grown training materials are costly to develop. From the time an educator spends researching and building content, to the tools necessary to effectively deliver and convey the information needed, many costs contribute to the overall investment. Sustainability: Once a department has committed to and executed on developing their own training and educational materials, there’s still work to be done. The resources require regular review and updating to ensure that it’s keeping pace with changes happening in the sterile processing industry.   While the benefits of in-house training and education resources provide significant benefits in terms of focus and effectiveness, those benefits come with a cost that not all departments can accommodate. Making the case for more resources Sterile processing budgets are always deliberately allocated; every last dollar is needed, and it’s often not enough. So how can you make a case to increase investment in training and education in your department? Show up with data: As Ricupito points out: “If you’re making a business case [to increase SPD budget for training and education], when you get to the decision maker, you’ve got three bullet points. That’s it, that’s all the attention you’ll get. You’ve got to be able to say ‘If I do X, Y will happen, and here’s the data to prove it.” Tell the historical story: Pointing to specific quality outcomes with historical data and a good case for the positive impact of training elevates the discussion from an SPD problem to an organizational problem, adding urgency to resolving it. Talk to physicians: Many in SPD can relate to the story of an upset surgeon letting…
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