The onboarding process in a Sterile Processing Department is complex. A new staff member must learn about their new environment, both within and outside the department, and how to effectively and efficiently complete all activities associated with their job role.
It’s important to distinguish between the orientation and competency processes. The orientation process occurs only once during an employee's tenure in their job role. However, if an employee is promoted within the department, the orientation process should restart for the new position. In contrast, the competency process happens during orientation and continues with periodic evaluations thereafter.
I like to break down the orientation process into segments. The first week can be referred to as the "onboarding" segment. During this time, new employees are introduced to their environment. Key topics include introductions to co-workers and supervisory staff, the department's mission and vision, scope of services, strategic goals, key work assignments, visual and audible alerts, department policies and procedures, department manuals, work schedules, payroll applications, safety procedures, email and intranet access, education, and job standards. This is also when mandatory onboarding education should be completed, ideally with some focus on the new role.
Employees will be oriented to job-specific areas such as decontamination, prep and pack, and sterilization in the following months. The goal is to train them on the new processes they must learn, and this is also when the first competencies are assessed. I prefer to train new staff in the order that instrumentation is processed within the sterile processing area (i.e., decontamination, prep/pack, and then sterilization). This approach best prepares them for the next steps in instrument production. Other areas, such as case carts, specialty carts, or equipment cleaning, may not require such a formal training structure.
Sterile Processing competencies should be assessed after each orientation segment to ensure the new staff member has a solid understanding of the processes and can perform them with little to no assistance. Annual competency evaluations should also be conducted, though not every competency from the orientation process needs to be repeated each year. The annual assessments should be determined based on departmental needs and patient risks. The best way to decide which competencies require annual evaluation is through a department risk assessment and a review of strategic goals aligned with quality assurance data. One effective way to evaluate competency needs is to focus on processes with high risks to patients or staff, when failures occur, especially those that have low utilization rates (i.e., infrequent occurrences).
Regular reviews should be conducted for both processes to eliminate outdated materials. As new processes are implemented, updated information should be incorporated. Utilization of manufacturer's instructions for use (IFU) is a great place to start.
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