Safe—I believe the most important thing I can do is to protect the safety of our patients. When all is said and done, patient safety is the entire raison d’être for any sterile processing department. Cleaning, disinfecting, and sterilizing reusable medical devices does not generate any revenue for my organization; it costs money, rather than bringing it in. Yet it is crucial to preventing any harm to patients. The Hippocratic Oath starts with, “First, do no harm.” If we follow that to its logical conclusion, we realize that one of the most important considerations for establishing any healthcare operations is ensuring the medical devices will be safe for patient care. For that reason, I will be a tireless advocate for providing sufficient resources to the sterile processing department. Anything less is violating my responsibility to each and every patient who comes to my facility for care. …show more content…
This could be temporary, as the patient suffers in pain or stays under anesthesia longer than necessary, or permanent, as an injury worsens or even leads to preventable death. I will do everything in my power to have all needed equipment, instruments, and supplies available at the point of use on time. Beyond my normal duty to process items as quickly as possible, this means I will anticipate where delays could occur and communicate this to my clinical teammates. They can then appropriately plan the care for our