Ideas That Work: Visual Aids Make Excuses Disappear

Practical pearls from your colleagues

Sterile processing leaders do everything they possibly can to ensure staff follow all the intricate steps and complex processes necessary to ensure surgical instruments are clean and sterile. But what can you do when staff say they don’t know how to perform a task that’s been explained to them time and time again? Fred Westermeyer, CRCST, CIS, CER, CHL, LSSYBH, CHEP, relies heavily on visual aids to eliminate those excuses.

Take the task of inspecting the manifold elbow on washer arms, which requires removing the screw and extracting the actual elbow for visual inspection and the removal of potential debris. It’s something that should be done at least weekly but is often forgotten or skipped by time-strapped SPD staff, says Mr. Westermeyer, sterile processing educator for North Kansas City (Mo.) Hospital. “It’s one of those tasks where you say it, you teach it and then certain staff will turn around and say, ‘I don’t know how to do it,’” he says. “When that happens, the task simply doesn’t get done.”

To combat this problem, Mr. Westermeyer created a visual diagram [pictured above] with step-by-step instructions on exactly how to inspect the manifold elbows and posted it in his department. “We’ve seen much better results in terms of inspection,” says Mr. Westermeyer. “By adding this diagram, the excuse disappears.” OSM