The latest RVN Television Morning Coffee Expert Series broadcast featuring Dr. Roy Swift, executive director of Workcred, and Siri Sorensen and Damien Berg of the Healthcare Sterile Processing Association (HSPA), examines the importance of credentials and rigor of skills needed for a crucial and promising role in healthcare—sterile processing professionals.
As the field continues to advance with the rapid rise of new medical technologies, these professionals are the heart of critical and life-changing medical procedures, decontaminating, inspecting, packaging, and sterilizing equipment and devices used in the healthcare environment.
Berg, HSPA’s vice president of strategic initiatives, and Sorensen, director of certification and membership, explained the pathways to earning an HSPA certification, which equips sterile processing professionals with the knowledge and skills necessary for managing critical departmental duties safely, effectively, and consistently.
“This field is evolving, and technology is evolving. We do surgery with robots nowadays and it's very complex. Technicians could have been certified 10 years ago, but do [they] know how to properly inspect, clean, and sterilize a robotic arm […] that the surgeons use for amazing surgeries?” said Berg, HSPA’s vice president of strategic initiatives. “You can have the best surgeon or best nurse in the world, and you can have an outstanding medical institution, but our technicians are the ones that clean, disinfect, and sterilize the surgical instrument that these professionals use. So if our people aren't doing that very crucial job the way it needs to be done, then it's going to impact the care of the patient throughout the entire state.”
He added that HSPA is working across the country to meet with the state legislators and hospital leadership to advocate certification education.
Dr. Swift added that occupations with the “work and learn” model produce people who are assured that they have the necessary competencies, and also support retainable and loyal employees.
To learn more, watch the latest episode, Workcred Expert Series: Credentialing a Crucial Role in Healthcare, and check out other videos on Workcred.org.