My friend and mentor, Dr. Jeff Thompson, introduced me to the concept of the poverty-healthcare vortex. I initially thought of it as a cycle. However, vortex is a more accurate description as it is a downward spiral for many people in this country. The single greatest threat to health In essence sixty percent of all…
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A few months ago I saw a post floating around Sterile Processing circles asking whether or not technicians should be allowed to talk while on the processing floor. There were a number of comments from CS leaders and technicians on both sides of the debate, and I’m sure a couple of ruffled feathers along the…
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“Johnny is the best.” “Suzy is great.” “Billy is a hard worker.” Whether you are an SPD leader or frontline technician, chances are good you will be needing or writing a letter of recommendation at some point in your career. And as important as these kinds of letters are, it is still difficult to dig…
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“Busy!” “Crazy!” “Barely staying afloat!” Any of these sound like a normal day in your CS/SPD department? Yeah, I thought so. And do you want to know why I’m not surprised? Because few days go by when I don’t have that same sinking feeling, like I’ve got concrete blocks tied to both of my feet…
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Let me just start this by saying there is no easy path or magic bullet for ensuring your department is ready for a Joint Commission, DNV, state health department or CMS survey. As ready as you think you are, there can always be hidden issues lurking behind the next page of documentation or varying levels of…
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Imagine you work the cash register at a local retail chain (Target, Walmart, Macy’s, whatever). And every night as you count out your cash on hand, you happen to come up a couple hundred of dollars short. But here’s where you really have to use your imagination: Imagine if everyone knew your were short, but…
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One bad apple can spoil the bunch. And one mad surgeon can, well, we all know what one mad surgeon can do . . . And there are few better ways to set off a stressed out surgeon than to consistently fail him or her in the area of surgical instrumentation. Whether it’s a set…
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(This is the second installment of a short series of articles focused on surgical instrument quality, repair, and refurbishment from the perspective of a UK instrument manufacturer and repair professional [Daniel Coole] and a US sterile processing consultant [Hank Balch]). Daniel Coole: Refurbishment of surgical instrument trays seems like something that should be happening and…
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(This is the third installment of a short series of articles focused on surgical instrument quality, repair, and refurbishment from the perspective of a UK instrument manufacturer and repair professional [Daniel Coole] and a US sterile processing consultant [Hank Balch]). Daniel Coole: New instruments are manufactured from stainless steel and may appear to be robust,…
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(This is the first installment of a short series of articles focused on surgical instrument quality, repair, and refurbishment from the perspective of a UK instrument manufacturer and repair professional [Daniel Coole] and a US sterile processing consultant [Hank Balch]). Daniel Coole: Would you stir you coffee with this (surgical instrument)? I love this question…
Read MoreSeptember 21, 2026
August 24, 2026
