Currently, our profession is one of the most poorly paid and under medical technicians in the field of modern health care. This is a very sad state of affairs, given the important role of sterilization technician at the hospital and surgery center setting holds. Literally, it provides direct patient care in the medical center can not function without them!
It is unlikely that hospital administrators to come to an epiphany on their own to the profession in their respective institutions and try to help and contribute to the SPD department and then their engineers. It is in almost every endeavor, useless (not to mention lazy and irresponsible) to some hope that things improve to sit. Sometimes we take the initiative themselves.
In the central services organization, has IAHCSMM at the top of this for many, many years. And other independent and group efforts are underway, organizations and central sterilization initiative. However, a concerted effort is now, if we move forward the profession are required. If you have done for years already, is not giving us the results we want and need, then it is clearly time to take a step back and evaluate.
It is the argument of our initiative, there are several areas where we as a profession is now focused mandatory certification is not the biggest obstacle and should not be our goal. Our goal is higher than even this high society. For more information about these areas and our ideas, please visit the initiative of the central sterilization.
But for our discussion, we are only interested in one topic, education. Before the sterile processing professionals can be reversed, he or she deserves this elevation. It’s time to stop the sterilization treatment as any other support services business, such as the environment or diet and start focusing on clinical and technical aspects of the field. This implies a much more technically trained.
Look at the educational initiative focused not only on self-study plans, courses and seminars, and then, finally, pass a final exam instead. Rather, they suggest that the formation of a sterilization technique should not be less stringent than the grade level of any other partner program technical / clinical. The reasons should be clear (the complex understanding of microbiology, chemistry and physics that requires the prevention of infection control, patient safety, etc)
We know that is not quick or easy, but it is a goal that should be focused on. The certification must be the second such change in the educational paradigm.
Having said this, we do not against certification, on the contrary! Today, professional certification is the highest possible standards for sterile processing professionals and is a must. Both recommend certification by IAHCSMM CBSPD and all of our students and teachers require from our partners.
How can we begin to appreciate the changes recommended earlier in our professional environment to implement?
Let us first look at the current educational situation to consider. Today, the only real choices in education for sterile progression of the learning process: 1) self-study, 2) the meeting from time to time / seminar, 3) some courses 4 about the proposed community and technical colleges, and) programs sponsored suppliers and internal departments .
Self-employment is a viable option for some, but only to a limited extent and not all do so without the proper structure of the classroom and the fixed curriculum.
Occasional seminars and training sessions are good opportunities for learning, but self-limiting due to several factors. On the one hand, are not at all places and at regular hours. This makes it difficult for many. In turn, that can be transmitted due to the short term (anywhere from several hours to several days) only to the extent information.
The community / technical college offers a good start, but the problem is again the venue, not just for the population over the supply of suitable sterilization, of course, not standard programs, such as radiology technician training. In addition, these programs can be expensive.
Many manufacturers offer educational programs and some of them are really exceptional. However, supplier-sponsored programs, there is always a catch is a clear alignment of the product and in many cases this can cause more confusion than they are for good reason. Neutral providers of educational programs are preferred.
Despite claims connected to the negative aspects of the above are, they are actually part of the processing platform of education is not sterile and should be discarded, but he sees only as an educational assistant Arenas, but this alone can not move forward alone, the profession. These are only first steps.
This is one of the objectives of the central leadership of the Development Initiative for the sterilization of comprehensive online training for professionals in the sterilization, which can be accessed at any time, from anywhere, at an affordable price, so that we can longer made and better education in the hands those who would otherwise be lost opportunities.