CS Certification

Mandatory CS Certification, is it the answer to the problem?   

Mandatory CS certification has become the main topic over the past year with little discussion as to the real problems that plague the industry.  I applaud the effort, yet I would caution the belief that certification will solve pay issues, address staffing shortages, improve employee turnover, reduce errors, and address the lack of respect that the department receives.   

This truly is the cart before the horse.  We currently do not have a national or state governing board that regulates our processes.  The FDA regulates manufacturing of sterile products but does not review hospital practices.   Pick any ten hospitals across this great nation and you will find ten different ways of doing the same job; not to mention that we have CBSPD and IAHCSMM two different programs to accomplish certification.   Are they both teaching the same processes that support what hospitals are doing? 

Contracted CSSDP services are starting to become the norm due to the lack of qualified managers and we are seeing more-and-more RN's trying to manage a non-patient care production department with little if any training.  I thought we had a nursing shortage.  

Currently, nursing has the Magnet program which gives them the stamp of approval and a rating that is supposed to attract quality personnel.  Like The Joint Commission the focus is nursing, documentation, physician compliance, and patient out-comes.  They do not address quality out-comes in the hospital service industry which includes central sterilization and decontamination.  

We have IAHCSMM, ASHCSP, and AHRMM with a variety of qualified people that could come together to form a single entity that would review hospitals CSSPD departments along side The Joint Commission.  Let’s first either establish ISO certification or an independent contractor (IAHCSMM) to work directly with “The Joint Commission” to fix the problem before mandating CS certification.  The Joint Commission is also a paid for program that some hospitals no longer utilize.

I completely agree that training and education is foremost when it comes to operating a successful CS department.  Most if not all the education and CSSDP training is on-the-job; which should be integrated into the operating room educational program for all surgical staff as well.  Included in this could be the National Certification, not as a separate test, but combined with an in-house program.  Training should follow a competency check-list required over a period of time with final check-offs to ensure the knowledge base has been retained.    

For example a hospital warehouse worker can be certified to operate a fork-lift in Arizona.    The certification for a forklift operator is hands-on training; they must demonstrate the ability to operate the machine.  Likewise, a similar competency could be designed for the hospital not through some other organization or on-line program.

On the other hand with mandatory certification a CSSPD professional is not certified to operate any one of the five different sterilizers utilized in today’s hospitals, but they will be required to complete certification and an in-house competency if this all takes place.

I believe that before mandatory CS certification is enforced, hospitals CSSPD departments must be licensed to prove that they meet national recommendations (AAMI-ANSI-ISO).  Hospitals receive a license to operate and under that they can sterilize surgical instruments in what ever manner they want.  We all know it....but just seem to ignore the facts regarding the many inconsistencies from hospital to hospital.

Build CSSPD certification around an in-house hands-on program and you will have my complete support.