If it’s not clean, it can’t be sterile…right? Even though this industry mantra is widely shared and discussed, there is an aspect of the discussion that is ripe for further consideration. While the industry has been rapidly moving toward more and more adoption of monitoring every sterilization load with a biological indicator (BI), the same cannot be said of process monitoring for our mechanical washers and disinfectors. While daily monitoring of mechanical washers with process challenge devices (PCDs) is common practice in Sterile Processing departments, what happens when a failure is detected? What should happen? And why are we not testing every washer load the way we test our steam sterilization loads? This presentation hopes to provide a catalyst for this important industry conversation.

Objectives:

• Discuss the purpose and requirements of processing monitoring for mechanical washers and disinfectors.
• Compare the process monitoring practices of biological indicators (BIs) and cleaning PCDs.
• Outline how the current industry conversations intersect around questions of cleaning, monitoring, and failure responses.
• Describe steps users can take to build robust quality monitoring processes into their decontamination workflow, training, and competencies.

This course is approved to receive 1.0 CE from CBSPD and HSPA.

Small Business, Big Impact: Sterile Processing Entrepreneurship

The hustle and bustle of the Sterile Processing department is the sound of patient safety. What happens when we bring the noise to the outside of the department walls? Join us as we shine a light on entrepreneurship in the Sterile Processing space. This dynamic speaker’s panel hosted by Sarah B. Cruz of PRETREAT will discuss how they are carrying the patient safety message in their businesses and what inspired them to do so. These frontline and tenure SP professionals opted to take their 9 to 5 shifts and add more hours to their passions. All major companies have started from somewhere. Come take a look at this wave of Sterile Processing business owners as the make take their small businesses to make a big impact on our industry.

Angie Baez #Say-it-loud
Chanté Brown Instrumental Sterile Processing Institute
Karen Cherry The Cherry Foundation
Deannard Esnard The Process

• Discuss the impact entrepreneurship has on engagement in Sterile Processing.
• Evaluate the different leadership styles in small business ownership.
• Examine the impact Sterile Processing entrepreneurship has on career paths.
• Demonstrate the importance of professional development in Sterile Processing.
• Learn some of the different types of small businesses (brick & mortar, digital marketing, non-profit).

This course is approved to receive 1.0 CE from CBSPD and HSPA.

Discover three common pitfalls sterile processing technicians face and learn effective strategies to overcome them in this engaging presentation by M. Angie Holland, CSPDT, CSPM, a seasoned professional with two decades of experience. Whether you aspire to be a leader, are currently struggling in a leadership role, or simply wish to enhance your technical skills, this talk is tailored for you.

Objectives:
• Comprehend and explain to others the significance of quality over quantity.
• Establish a program to maintain a strong connection with the workplace and technical expertise.
• Formulate measurable goals, such as metrics or key performance indicators, to foster continuous improvement within your department.

This course is approved to receive 1.0 CE from CBSPD and HSPA.

Descubre tres obstáculos comunes que enfrentan los técnicos de procesamiento estéril y aprende estrategias efectivas para superarlos en esta cautivadora presentación de M. Angie Holland, CSPDT, CSPM, una profesional experimentada con dos décadas de experiencia. Ya sea que aspiras a ser un líder, estés luchando actualmente en un puesto de liderazgo o simplemente desees mejorar tus habilidades técnicas, esta charla está diseñada especialmente para ti.

Objetivos:
• Comprender y explicar a otros la importancia de la calidad sobre la cantidad.
• Establecer un programa para mantener una fuerte conexión con el lugar de trabajo y la experiencia técnica.
• Formular metas medibles, como métricas o indicadores clave de desempeño, para fomentar la mejora continua dentro de tu departamento.

Este curso está aprobado para recibir 1.0 CE de CBSPD y HSPA.

To mail or not to mail?

That is the question when it comes to biological indicator (BI) testing in many clinical settings around the country — physician offices, dental clinics, and veterinary services. What is the best option for sterilization monitoring for your facility? What are the pros and cons of mail-in BI testing versus on-site incubation and monitoring? This presentation will address these questions and provide insight for clinic managers and technicians to make informed decisions regarding this critical aspect of quality management.

Objectives:

• Discuss the purpose & function of biological indicator monitoring for steam sterilization.
• Compare the processes of mail-in biological indicator monitoring and on-site incubation and monitoring.
• Describe the key quality management considerations in favor of on-site incubation.
• Provide insights to hardwire training, competence, and compliance regarding your biological monitoring process.

This course is approved to receive 1.0 CE from CBSPD and HSPA.

The Ultimate Guide to Onboarding SPD Techs and Leaders

Staff turnover and new employee orientation are constant challenges to Sterile Processing Departments. Whether a new employee is experienced or new to the field, there is always new material to learn in Sterile Processing. With the growing complexity of medical devices and department processes, a department’s onboarding training program is one of the most important aspects of its success. Bring your manager and department educator along for this CE presentation as we walk you through the ultimate guide for onboarding SPD techs and leaders!

Objectives:

• Introduce onboarding in Sterile Processing and its critical role in the success of the department.
• Identify roles leaders and preceptors play in developing and implementing an effective Sterile Processing onboarding program.
• Outline the essential resources and processes that make an effective Sterile Processing onboarding program.
• Detail key considerations for onboarding Sterile Processing leaders.

This course is approved to receive 1.0 CE from CBSPD and HSPA.

Conversations with Sterile Processing Technicians in Business

Objectives:

Interview 1: Jamie Shelosky and Selendra Brown
Topic: Starting a Content Sharing Platform and NonProfit organization

• Discuss how to make an impact on your Community.
• Understand how to step out of the box and do a thing you don’t know how to do.
• Learn how to get support for education, even when you can’t afford it.

Interview 2: Jamie Shelosky and Dannie O. Smith
Topic: How Attending a Conference Can Launch a New Phase In Your Career

• Learn how to use the skills you already have to improve your field.
• Discuss how to become more involved in your local professional organizations.

Interview 3:  Jamie Shelosky and Melanie Perry
Topic: How To Start a Blog to Share Your Experiences and Build a Community

• Learn how to start a blog to share your experiences and connect with people in your field with similar experiences.
• Why it matters to have a community of people in your field.

Interview 4: Jamie Shelosky and Johanne Benoit
Topic: Balancing Entrepreneurship and Working as a Tech: Variety at Work

• Discuss Sterile Processing Entrepreneurship in Dentistry.
• Talk about the SP Hosted Clubhouse Community and the impact it makes.

Interview 5: Jamie Shelosky and Jhmeid Billingslea
Topic: Transitioning from Being a Technician to Working for a Company

• Discuss how and why you might want to work for a company rather than a healthcare facility.
• Discuss the challenges healthcare facilities commonly face, which consultants help to correct.

This course is approved to receive 1.25 CE from CBSPD and HSPA.

Embracing Your Strengths

How often do we lead with our strengths when we reflect on our abilities? More often than not, we focus on our weaknesses and how we are flawed. Join us as we become empowered to embrace our professional and personal strengths. Learn methods to identify your strengths and the actionable steps you can follow to welcome them in your professional and personal development. Are you ready to feel empowered?

Objectives:

• Understand why it matters to know your strengths and how it impacts your career goals.
• Identify your strengths and confidently share them with your colleagues, supervisors, and community.
• Learn why self-promotion matters and how to promote yourself to help reach your goals effectively.

This course is approved to receive 1.0 CE from CBSPD and HSPA.

When an individual activates learning continuously, especially towards their passions and legacy, this can lead to multiple positive effects on both their personal and professional life. Brooke will introduce various exercises to activate continuous learning, various learning paths, and the ways it can lead to greater self-fulfillment.

Objectives:

• Discuss what continuous learning means.
• Learn how to pursue continuous learning in your career.
• Understand the relationship between continuous learning and greater self-fulfillment.

Presented by:
Brooke Elliott, Founder of BE Complete Coaching & Consulting 

A certified Mentor Coach, Executive Coach, and ICF-credentialed Associate Certified Coach who partners with motivated individuals and organizations to make meaningful changes, fine-tune strategies, and increase performance. She is a positive mindset and leadership development expert driven to empower others to activate their potential, continuously grow, and fully live and lead. Her practice is rooted in continuous growth, positive intelligence, strengths-based studies, research, and best practices. And focuses on the continual expansion of the mind that can be translated to internal and external growth and results.

Brooke has a successful track record in contract negotiations, operations, and talent discovery and development. She spent most of her career within the Supply Chain Services and sourcing function of a healthcare transformation organization, Premier, Inc. Over the last decade, Brooke was responsible for the business strategy and tactics for an internship, emerging leader, and learning and development programs. She led initiatives to centralize talent discovery, train and develop staff, standardize work, and uncover operational efficiencies. She also enabled talent through facilitating educational activities, building role-specific curricula and helped create a coaching and learning culture.

One of Brooke’s specialties is undergraduate career preparation, as she strongly believes in empowering younger generations to find and explore their “compass.” However, her clients range from undergraduate students to executives seeking a fresh perspective. She is known for her focus on values, people, strengths, strategy, continuous growth, and positive outcomes.

This course is approved to receive 1.0 CE from CBSPD and HSPA.

Hope is not a strategy, but where do we start? It is time to create a professional foundation to help Sterile Processing technicians gain real traction in their professional development. This session will discuss how through intentional and purposeful planning, SP technicians will not only be able to reach their goals but have a clear understanding of why they want to achieve them. Get ready to discover how a professional foundation is pivotal to our industry’s success and our patients’ safety!

Presented by:
Sarah B. Cruz is a certified CSPDT, CRCST, CHL, and a #CSSNerd!

As a Quality Education Program Development Coordinator for Central Sterile, she creates and institutes Sterile Processing education programs. Through collaboration with leadership and goal-planning sessions with upper-level management, Sarah creates quality management systems and implements programs to onboard new employees. Develop competencies, create department culture, certify staff, develop LEAN process improvements, and apply industry standards of best practices.

As a Sterile Processing instructor for a local community college, she creates and instructs certification programs designed to help develop sound foundations that new technicians can use in their new Sterile Processing careers.

As the founder and President of PRETREAT CSS, Sarah provides career mentorship and professional development strategies. With objective-driven goal planning and creating real physical indicators of success, Sarah helps Sterile Processing professionals put the CSS in their SUCCESS. Sarah brings the industry to the frontline by speaking and writing and is ready to show the healthcare industry why Sterile Processing is the heart of the hospital!

This course is approved to receive 1.0 CE from CBSPD and HSPA.

Limiting Mindsets and the Other Stuff Holding You Back

Let’s be real. A lot of…”stuff” can hold us back. Even stuff we aren’t aware of. This presentation is going to be an exploration of common limiting mindsets that prevent personal and professional growth. Once we’ve recognized our limiting mindsets, that’s only the beginning. We then have the challenge of pushing past them. By the end, you’ll have the tools to help you take an introspective look at where you’re at as a professional right now and how you can actively achieve what’s next. Are you a stressed-out individual? Yeah, me too. So we’ll also talk about short and long-term ways to calm down. Deep breaths, ya’ll, this is going to be a fun one!

Presented by:
Lindsay Brown CRCST, CFER, CCSVP, and Professional Growth Enthusiast

I am a people person. I love making connections, sharing insights, and learning from others. I am the Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Beyond Clean. I’m a Certified Registered Central Service Technician (CRCST) and a Certified Flexible Endoscope Reprocessor (CFER) through CBSPD. I’ve been an active part of the sterile processing industry as a speaker at medical facilities and educational seminars around the United States and Canada. I have educated healthcare personnel on fundamental and progressive industry topics.

I contributed as a writer to the Certified Endoscope Reprocessing Technician manual through HSPA. I’ve fulfilled roles as Marketing Manager, Clinical Education Manager, and Senior Sales Representative. I am skilled in Food & Beverage, Sales, Medical Devices, Sales Operations, and Purchase Contracts. I hold a Bachelor of Science (BS) in Speech Communications from the College of St. Catherine.

I like coffee, being outside, and surrounding myself with people I can learn from. On a personal note, my three kids, husband, and birth doula business fill my cup the rest of the way.

This course is approved to receive 1.0 CE from CBSPD and HSPA.

It’s no secret; Sterile Processing is experiencing the great job resignation. With so many frontline technicians hanging up their bouffant, many managers and leaders are left wondering, how do I retain and engage my remaining employees? This presentation will dive deep into how growing engagement in the workplace is vital to department success. It will identify the actionable steps both leaders and employees can take to increase employee engagement among staff and the department. You are not going to want to miss this engaging session!

Presented by:
Jardin Carlton CSPM, CSPDT, CFER
Manager of Education and Quality Assurance
Strong Memorial Hospital

Jardin Carlton is the Education & Quality Assurance Manager at Strong Memorial Hospital. In his role, Jardin is responsible for training and providing staff with ongoing education opportunities. To be successful in his position, Jardin keeps up to date on current practices utilizing AAMI and AORN Standards, among other standard and regulation bodies. Jardin holds many industry certifications, including Certified Sterile Processing Manager. He is a proud member of the Beyond Clean Advisory Group, and he enjoys connecting with industry leaders and pushing the Sterile Processing industry forward!

Objectives:

• How to set up an environment for growth-minded engaged employees.
• How to remove fear, anxiety, and suppression from departmental culture.
• Who the unofficial leaders are within your department and maximize their involvement.
• How to create ongoing opportunities for department involvement that sustains engagement over time.

This course is approved to receive 1.0 CE from CBSPD and HSPA.

Do you want to enhance your professional competency but don’t know where to begin? How about joining your fellow Sterile Processing professionals in completing the first-ever Sterile Processing micro-credential? Join us and recent Sterile Processing Cross-Contamination Microcredential graduates for a tell-all panel discussion. Hear what our graduates have to say about this high-value educational endeavor and the tools for success. If you’ve already completed all the industry certifications you can and are wondering what’s next for you, this is the session for you!

Objectives:

• Attendees will understand what is a microcredential.
• Learn how completing coursework for a microcredential can help them improve their skills.
• Attendees will gain valuable insights from their peers about the Sterile Processing Microcredential course.

This course is approved to receive 1.0 CE from CBSPD and HSPA.

An Inside Look at the Logistics of Sterile Processing Products and Manufacturing

When the Discovery Channel released the first season of “How It’s Made?” over 20 years ago, few people knew how big of a hit the documentary-style film series would be. Showing how everyday items like bubble gum, car engines, and guitars would become. The show’s audience has been growing since its January 6th, 2001 debut.

Have you ever wondered what an episode of “How It’s Made?” would look like in your Sterile Processing department? Have you ever considered how the products you use in your department come to be and everything that’s entailed in getting them from the warehouse to the hospital dock? There’s more than meets the eye in the stories of supposedly simple things like peel pouches, sterilization tape, and load stickers. This presentation will give you an inside look into the world of product manufacturing and logistics.

Objectives:

• Explore trends in the Medical Device Industry and how they are impacting healthcare.
• Provide insight into product research, design, and manufacturing.
• Describe the process and logistics of manufacturing medical devices.
• Outline user experience impacted by manufacturing and logistics.

This course is approved to receive 1.0 CE from CBSPD and HSPA.

Making time for professional development is incredibly challenging for most individuals. Many Sterile Processing Professionals are looking for the next step in their career. However, they don’t know what action to take. To achieve your goals, you need to know precisely what they are and plan to get there. This presentation will help you learn the steps to identify and achieve your goals! Attendees will learn how to develop a growth mindset which allows them to learn from limitations. They will learn a straightforward method to describe their professional visions and goals. Finally, attendees will learn to ask for and utilize professional feedback to achieve their goals.

Objectives:

• Create a plan for professional growth based on your goals.
• Describe your professional goals and vision.
• Understand the importance of seeking out feedback and growth opportunities.
• Learn the difference between a fixed and a growth mindset.

This course is approved to receive 1.0 CE from CBSPD and HSPA.

10 Reasons Your Instrument Reprocessing Room is Center Stage in Dental Infection Control

Four walls, a ceiling, and a floor. Nothing earth-shattering…yet. Add in a few pieces of equipment, a processing sink, a couple of supplies, and a dental professional on a mission — and you get a room where infection control magic happens. Even if it’s actually more science than magic, what happens in your clinic’s reprocessing room is still a big deal. Every other service your team provides hinges on things going well in that small room off the main hallway. But why exactly is this room so important? This presentation will lay out ten reasons why what happens in your reprocessing space can make or break your dental practice.

Co-presented by:
Johanne Benoit BS, CHL, CRCST Strategic Content Manager of Beyond Clean
Jamie Shelosky BS, CCSVP, VP Marketing and Education of Propper Manufacturing Company

Objectives:

• Discuss the common challenges of dental clinics regarding the reprocessing space.
• Attendees will be able to understand guidelines from regulatory agencies regarding layout and flow.
• Attendees will be able to identify reasons why the reprocessing room is critical for effective infection control in the dental space.
• Attendees with describe steps clinics can take to highlight the importance of this area.

This course is approved to receive 1.0 CE from SPD and FAGD/MAGD.

What Every Veterinary Technician Should Know About Their Instrument Reprocessing Quality

Presented by:
Sarah B. Cruz CSPDT, CRCST, CHL, CIS of PRETREAT CSS

Veterinary Technicians have an extensive list of responsibilities, including instrument reprocessing. This presentation will teach the fundamental skills to clean and sterilize instruments effectively. Allowing veterinary technicians to play a key role in infection prevention in their clinics.

Objectives:

• Discuss the challenges of limited access to reprocessing training for veterinary technicians.
• Describe how basic infection control principles can have dramatic impacts on quality outcomes.
• Explain the need to empower veterinary technicians to become reprocessing subject matter experts.
• Provide critical insights into “Go” – “No-Go” scenarios during the reprocessing workflow.

This course is approved to receive 1.0 CE from CBSPD and HSPA.