The Sterile Processing Struggle: Agency vs In-House Staffing

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Now-a-days, there are few sterile processing departments out there that can say they have not been affected by agency staffing services.

Your SPD team has either fallen victim to losing some great staff members due to travel recruiters offering them better pay and advancement opportunities, or you as a leader have had to make some massive budget cuts in other areas of your department to be able to meets the needs of your customers by hiring immediately-available contracted SPD technicians.

The question remains, how do the leaders in the sterile processing industry mitigate this problem? What are you and others in SPD leadership doing to turn this around? The answer is not simple.

Here are some ways agency staffing services affect our department’s culture and staff, and most importantly the future of sterile processing, and what we might do to counteract these effects.

Agency-staff hired in SPD can have a massive impact on compliance in your department. Everything operates differently in this relationship. Contract staff are usually hired very quickly and fast tracked through orientation. Agency staff are rarely able to be given the same training and onboarding as your internal staff. They are expected to be industry experts in this field quickly, especially if being paid at a premium rate.

For leadership, it is nearly impossible to onboard these individuals in the same manner when you only have them for 12 to 16 weeks at a time. Subsequently, this can cause variations in daily practices and protocols, and in a department that relies so deeply on compliance, this can be detrimental to process outcomes.

The most important factor in mitigating compliance and cultural challenges is education and collaboration with your C-Suite. You as a leader must know what needs to be done, and then find an effective and efficient way to communicate your needs. A starting point I would recommend is to collaborate with your hospital’s education systems to propose the possibility of introducing a 13-week SPT class and certification preparation to draw in and retain newly certified staff.

Another suggestion is an open invitation to everyone in the C-suite for a tour of the department, maybe during SPD week, and include infection prevention, employee health, and your director. Use this open platform to advocate for your people and educate others on the importance of your role in the hospital. Sterile processing is the heart of the hospital and without “us”, no other department functions properly. As a leader within the industry, I am a firm believer that this is just another part of our mission; to advocate for your employees’ and department’s needs to better serve our patients.

Agency staff can also have a massive impact on your department’s culture and morale. I personally have seen internal staff members become frustrated that the agency is doing the same work and being paid at a much higher premium rate. This can cause unnecessary turmoil within your department and take the focus off the process and patient and onto staff focusing on each other’s work. Other bigger issues arise from that, too.

The obvious and initial thought would be an overall market adjustment for our internal SPD staff. This would allow us to obtain and retain highly trained internal staff and lessen the demand and cost for agency staff. Easier said than done!

In order to accomplish such a big feat working with HR would be a top priority. Before approaching HR, I would suggest working with and educating your immediate director and the C-Suite on these issues; to ensure you have their support. This will be a lengthy process and require compiling and sharing multiple data trends showing staff turnover, the cost of each agency technician, and lastly a clear plan to mitigate this ongoing issue.

SPD leadership, what are your thoughts on embarking on this journey together?