From Vision to Victory: Using Roadmaps to Achieve Goals in SPD and GI

In our previous blog, Building Habits of Improvement: SPD Style, we explored the consequences of having poor habits, or no habits, that focus on consistent and constant improvement of a department’s practices. By now, you may have ideas for changes you’d like to make—but how do you turn that vision into a reality?

Transforming your ideas into an actionable roadmap is an important step. Below you’ll find a free resource proven among business professionals to start building a roadmap that puts ideas into reality. If you’re still figuring out which habits to prioritize, don’t worry—we’ll also share practical suggestions to help you get started.

About the Roadmap Tool

To get started, download the Practical Roadmap to SPD Success tool. This tool is based on proven business strategies designed to help teams identify areas for improvement and put together plans to apply them. Once downloaded, follow these steps:

• Step 1: Identify some micro-upgrades and professional initiatives you would like to implement, along with the desired date you would like them fully integrated as new habits or practices.
• Step 2: Pick one of your goals and identify the roadblocks in the way. For each challenge, list the following:

• • What is the challenge associated with the goal?
  • Why is it a challenge?
  • What can be done to remove the challenge?

• Step 3: Write 5 steps you will take to complete your goal, in order. Write out the actions you will take to reach each of your goals.

With the Roadmap in hand, let’s explore some examples of micro-upgrades and professional initiatives to help you get started!

Examples of Micro-upgrades

In our previous blog, we listed some potential areas for improvements in endoscope reprocessing and sterile processing departments. One solution to apply improvements is investments in new technologies. Let’s break down some specific equipment you can consider implementing to start improving your department.

Automated Flushing Systems & Dosing Pumps for Automation

Automated flushing devices save time, increase efficiency, and help facilities achieve repeatable, high-quality cleaning outcomes. A value analysis of common manual flushing systems in reprocessing departments demonstrates how inefficient processes can contribute to poor cleaning outcomes and increased risks. Surgical site infections (SSIs), for example, can extend hospital stays by up to 9.7 days and increase hospitalization costs by over $20,000 per admission.¹

Implementing automated flushing systems to replace syringes and spray guns enhances consistency and reliability in flushing instrument channels. Automated systems reduce the variability inherent in manual flushing, ensuring thorough removal of bioburden and debris from intricate or long channels. This consistent performance supports compliance with standards and instrument instructions for use (IFUs), improves patient safety, and reduces the physical strain on technicians.

By adopting automated systems, facilities can help mitigate these risks, streamline workflows, and ensure more consistent and reliable instrument reprocessing.

Sink Liners for Reducing Instrument Damage

It can be shocking how much money and time goes towards instrument repair. A study Cori Ofstead demonstrated that implementing routine borescope inspections significantly reduced major repair needs, cutting costs from $1,212,702 in 2022 to $724,419 in 2024—a savings of nearly $488,000. Furthermore, the mean cost per repair dropped from $4,426 to $2,337, with a concurrent increase in the number of uses between repairs from 52 to 87.²   

Implementing sink liners in your department helps protect surgical instruments and endoscopes, maintaining their operating condition and minimizing costly repairs or replacements. By reducing the risk of damage from impacts, sink liners lower the likelihood of wear and premature replacements. This simple addition supports better inventory management and enhances a busy gastroenterology department’s fleet operations by reducing instrument downtime.

By implementing tools like sink liners to minimize damage, departments could experience comparable savings and optimize their overall operational budget. Pin mats may also be a solution for protecting borescope catheters.

Anti-Fatigue Mats for Ergonomic Fatigue and Injury Prevention

Implementing anti-fatigue mats in your department helps reduce discomfort caused by prolonged standing, promoting the well-being of staff. Mats provide a cushioned surface that alleviates foot, leg, and hip fatigue, ensuring employees can work more comfortably and efficiently.

Beware of mats which don’t provide anti-fatigue benefits. Many floor mats may only offer non-trip or slip benefits and may provide no ergonomic benefit at all.

Magnifier Task Lights for Surgical Instrument Inspection

Implementing task lights with magnifiers in your department ensures optimal lighting for fine-detail inspections, reducing the risk of eye strain and improving staff performance. These lights provide focused illumination, helping technicians spot imperfections and defects that might be missed with the naked eye, reducing errors. ANSI/AAMI ST79: 3.3.5.6 and ANSI/AAMI ST91: 4.3.8 provide the necessary lighting and luminosity standards, emphasizing that proper lighting is essential for identifying bioburden, damage, and imperfections, which directly impact outcome quality.

Examples of Professional Initiatives

Improving your department doesn’t always mean making product investments; it may require self-development! Below are a couple considerations to improve professional well-being and development.

Communication

• Huddles: Start each shift with a quick 10-minute huddle to share updates on equipment maintenance, staffing changes, or reminders about upcoming audits. Use this time to allow team members to ask questions or share concerns. Choose a cadence that works for your department & volumes.
• Memo Boards: Create a central communication hub with a whiteboard or digital screen in the break room. Divide it into sections such as “Announcements,” “Shout-outs,” and “Important Dates” to highlight key facts.
• Newsletters: Distribute a monthly electronic newsletter summarizing updates on policies, upcoming training, and personal recognition for outstanding work.

Training/Skills Development

• In-Services: Partner with vendor reps to conduct regular on-site training sessions for new technologies, robotic instruments, or best practices in instrument reprocessing.
• Live Workshops: Host quarterly hands-on sessions where technicians can practice advanced techniques, such as proper use of ATP testing for quality assurance or simulated high-level disinfection processes.
• Continuing Education: Provide your team with online resources for free CE credits, such as the Pure Processing Education Page, or implement monthly training focused on a different ANSI/AAMI standards to keep the team compliant and informed.

Department Morale

• Holiday Celebrations: Host a potluck during the winter holidays, with time-adjusted events for each shift, to ensure everyone can participate. Decorate the department with festive colors to reflect the season.
• Staff Recognition: Introduce a “Technician/Nurse of the Month” program where peers nominate teammates who go above and beyond and provide the winner with a small gift.
• Milestone Achievements: Celebrate service anniversaries with a departmental certificate, a group photo, a personalized thank-you note.

Rounding

• Action Follow-Up: If a technician raised concerns about decontamination bottlenecks last week, follow up during rounding by showing a tangible fix, like a new cart wash schedule.
• Pulse Check: Spend time observing the prep-and-pack team during peak hours. Ask them directly about their current challenges or tools they think could make their workflow smoother.
• Hands-On Assistance: While rounding in decontamination, assist in troubleshooting a piece of malfunctioning equipment or help technicians manage a backup on a tray cart to ensure they don’t feel unsupported.

By combining thoughtful investments in tools and equipment with a proactive focus on team engagement, education, and morale, departments can build the habits which deliver long-term, high-quality results. Transformation doesn’t happen overnight; it’s about consistent effort and celebrating incremental victories along the way.

Start small, stay focused, and use the Practical Roadmap to SPD Success tool to guide your journey. Every step brings your department closer to operational excellence and ensures your team is ready to meet the challenges of tomorrow.