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agencies may be looking for in staff educa- tion files. Sterile Processing staff should demonstrate documented competency in all areas of the department they serve, such as the following: • Biohazard transport • Decontamination • Preparation and packaging • Sterilization • Sterile storage • Distribution of sterile supplies • Manual and mechanical cleaning methods • Equipment operations, such as the various modes or methods of steam sterilization within one sterilizer (this should include equipment testing and validation)
• Infection prevention control and • Worker safety protocols (such as donning and doffing PPE)
The previously mentioned competen- cies are recommended to be maintained and documented on a yearly basis. Should deficiencies be identified, staff should be reassessed to maintain knowledge of the process or evaluated to determine if a defi- ciency is due to behavioral concerns which requires leadership intervention. Additionally, each staff member should receive initial training that is documented. In other words; level set the playing field for all onboarding staff, no matter the expe- rience level or title. This initial orientation should be completed with the use of a tool such as a training pathway or checklist for each task staff is to complete or perform. These pathways or checklists can be as simple as naming the criteria to be observed, listing the behaviors or tasks that must be observed, and identifying success- ful completion of the task. Additionally, some instrument-tracking software may provide ways to capture competencies as well. Here is a simplified example of a pathway any educator can create: Using this format, staff should not be checked-off or validated until they are
competent to perform the activity. It should go without saying that staff should not be allowed to perform those activities alone without being appropriately documented in a format such as this. As you would expect, an initial pathway for staff who are onboarding will take a few weeks to document, as it should. During onboard- ing, it is crucial to keep up with new hire activities, and document them on a weekly basis to ensure progress is being made. Notes should also be documented on path- ways to be reviewed midway through the orientation schedule and at the conclusion of orientation; you will want to review these with your preceptee as you document them as well.
Continuing education and competency Yearly and continuing education should reflect the same processes plus any addi- tional vital competencies that may be high- risk, low frequency such as Immediate Use Steam Sterilization. These high-risk, low frequency competencies will ensure your staff maintains proficiency in tasks that may not be performed every day. In this case, Immediate Use Steam Sterilization should be identified as high-risk due to its nature. Staff seldom perform this activ- ity, but competent staff should be able to perform it in emergent situations appro- priately and accurately. Consequently, it is highly recommended to educate, validate, and review these processes minimally on a yearly basis if not, more often. Tracking and reviewing educational
competencies should be a continuous process that educators and leaders assess together routinely. When competencies are documented, there should be space for documenting process failures, learning gaps and deficiencies. Documenting learn- ing gaps does not have to be a negative subject. In fact, tracking these gaps help
SELF-STUDY SERIES
leaders and educators address staff limita- tions. Think of them as learning plateaus; they show you where your staff is currently and where to build from. In previous expe- riences, this is where great educators are created; it is easy to teach amazing staff that do not have issues learning. Here is where you discover the educator who can step out of the herd and create new learning atmospheres for staff who may have differ- ent learning styles from other technicians. As competencies are completed, look for common trends such as areas within check- lists and pathways that confuse staff. You may need to update the way the checklist is written to allow staff to easily understand the task, or you may find that the task is a common learning gap that staff could use a refresher on with the use of an in-service or hands-on demonstration. Either way, trending performance gaps will help the department as a whole, and help you dif- ferentiate competency-based performance issues with behavioral issues.
Best practices for learning styles Sterile Processing technicians have a pleth- ora of tasks that can be broken down in this manner, but how do educators and leaders prevent the monotonous task of “checking the box” on each of these critical processes? How can educators and lead- ers teach, coach, and educate the various styles of learners when they in fact may not have attended courses to teach them how to navigate through the various learn- ing styles? In my previous experience, as an elementary teacher, I had the amaz- ing pleasure of learning how to develop young minds. In the academic courses I attended, I learned how to create learning experiences that allowed students to grasp new concepts and ideas that stretched their minds to not only understand processes, but also conceptualize theories that helped
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Self-Study Test Answers: 1. A, 2. B, 3. B, 4. B, 5. A, 6. A, 7. B, 8. B, 9. B, 10. B
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