Patient safety at Blessing Health System attained another level of national recognition after its Sterile Processing Department (SPD) met the requirements, passed an onsite inspection and earned Advanced Sterile Processing Certification from the international accrediting organization, DNV.
According to DNV’s website, Blessing’s SPD is the 21st to earn this certification nationally, and only the 3rd in Illinois. The other two hospitals are in the Chicago area.
SPD at Blessing Hospital and the Blessing Surgery Center sterilizes patient care instrumentation for every clinical department within the health system. SPD processes instruments used in surgical procedures in the operating room as well as procedures done in clinical outpatient suites. Many of the devices, such as robotic instruments, are highly complex with delicate endoscopes – cameras that go inside the body – requiring special care and handling. SPD works collaboratively with Blessing’s Infection Prevention department to ensure positive patient outcomes.
DNV’s Advanced Sterile Processing Certification recognizes the highs standards to which sterile processing departments maintain the sterility of their instruments and environments for the safety of patients and staff, and overall improved patient outcomes.
Blessing’s SPD must meet strict timeframes to insure patient care is uninterrupted. The department is allowed 24 hours to clean, inspect, assemble and sterilize instrumentation. During a typical two-week period, SPD sterilizes more than 20,000 instruments and instrument sets.
The department operates around-the-clock, seven-days-a-week with a staff of 20. Each staff member earns international certification within a year of joining the department and is required to recertify annually.
“We have high standards for the quality of work this department produces,” said Cathy Wittler, sterile processing manager, Blessing Hospital. “We understand – and this is our motto – that there is a patient at the end of every instrument. Earning this certification shows that we are leaders in our field.”
The DNV Advanced Sterile Processing Certification requirements are based on the guidelines and recommendations of organizations including the Association of Perioperative Nurses, the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation, and the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, and relevant requirements of the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Conditions of Participation for Hospitals.
While the certification is valid for three years, Blessing’s SPD will undergo an onsite inspection annually as part of DNV’s continual compliance requirement.