Forward Thinking: Part 2 

Sharing Your Knowledge 

Desire is the drive necessary to serve others and begin the journey of forward movement in the SP profession. The next step is knowledge. SP Technicians constantly expand and learn, while developing a professional manner and growing into roles and responsibilities. We do what it takes to complete and finish the race - setting goals, working diligently, and doing what we say we will do while keeping that desire that started it all. 

Becoming an educator allows us to share our knowledge. In doing so, each step must be broken down by demonstrating and providing a rationale for every task along the way. For example: When constructing a tray of instruments, each instrument must be listed by category, name, and use, and include the quality steps for function and bioburden testing. The delivery of detailed information is crucial to sharing knowledge so that each team member could receive it accurately and provide a return demonstration. 

Teaching and serving others requires extra effort and care in this work. It includes obtaining the knowledge of science and standards with a focus on the larger goal of serving whole departments. Helping one, ultimately helps all.

The How-To 

SP departments provide ladders for growth within a department, and ultimately within the SP profession. Advantage Support Services states, “It’s been widely recognized that obtaining professional certification status is the most important step SP professionals can take toward advancing their careers and driving quality within their respective departments. SP staff must have the knowledge, skills, and training to provide consistent, reliable, and quality-focused service.” One can gain experience as a Tech I and move up the chain of command to a Tech II, an educator, a supervisor, and so on. Each position along the way provides skills that are utilized on an upward journey. The Healthcare Sterile Processing Association (HSPA) provides certification ladders to achieve your professional goals.

Each position along the way teaches skills for learning and life that develop professionals in this industry. One of those developed skills is communication, and it includes learning to communicate with various personalities and professional levels. Different positions demand alternate approaches to communicate well, from co-workers as technicians, to teammates in the operating room, to C-Suite executives.

The key to growth begins at the beginning – start, try, and try again. Growing to the next level has its good days and bad. CS environments may offer a culture that encourages, but not every department is so lucky. Both can be a catalyst for growth. Remember that the grass is not necessarily greener on the other side. An SP is an SP is an SP. People are always people, with both great and flawed attributes. The way to succeed is to go the extra mile for another. Remember that signing up for SP is agreeing to a position of service. Help your new and inexperienced colleagues elevate the department by sharing your genius ideas with them. This will make for a better work environment and a better way to produce and deliver to customers, and teammates processing instruments.

Moving up the ladder of success within this profession requires forward focus. Certification is one way to achieve this goal. A further incentive is to be motivated in the current position held and to be the best at what you are currently called to do. To achieve this, a rule of thumb is “to do what you say you will do” with all your ability. Sometimes that calls for extra work, studying the science, the standards, or maybe offering help to a teammate. Sometimes it calls for coaching as work is accomplished side by side, elevating others’ positions, encouraging others, or recognizing a job well done. To be forward-focused is to target the whole of the process so that the department can serve customers and patients to the best of its abilities.

Sterile Processing is a profession that offers growth. There are many opportunities to become expert technicians that can advance to the next level if desired. These opportunities allow growth by developing skill levels in many areas. This includes not only the duties and tasks for processing instruments but personal growth as well. As we work with others and learn new things, we gain more realization about our character, attributes, communication styles, attention to detail, and abilities for patience and delivery of information.

Fear and Failure

With the right perspective, fear and failure are motivators to grow. Acknowledging and embracing both can motivate movement, but these also could stop us from achieving our goals and keep us in a holding pattern. If trials arise, be persistent. This too shall pass. Both fear and failure are temporary. It takes courage to fail, and strength to be exposed to others' ridicule for mistakes or missteps. This too is perspective. Others will judge, but we must understand that they can only share what they know. All people are where they are because of their own experiences. Don't accept their opinions or comments as gospel to keep you stuck in one place or to back you away from your desire to grow. People are just people.

When we desire growth personally or professionally, it is always good to remind ourselves of that goal. Sometimes a good way to do this is to speak it out loud to yourself, or another. Saying it to someone else may provide accountability to yourself. Keep in mind that people are just people, whether they encourage you should not define your movement. Do not allow self-doubt to creep in based on the judgments of others. You are the author of your success.

We may consider a new perspective and allow their criticism to motivate us to review our actions, enabling the tools to do it better next time. We should use that exposure to learn. Everyone has and brings value. Gratitude and self-permission are keys to growth.

Goal Setting

To reach your goals, never lose sight of your desire. Here, we offer some tools to help you reach goals and to see and say them easily. Wise Goals provides worksheets that can be utilized for upward growth and goal setting.

• See and Say

Do you remember the game? You may have played it as a kid or given it to your children. It was a round toy with a pull string that showed a picture and as you pulled the string, the toy said the name of the picture. That concept still applies to us, even with a few more years under our belts. Name your goal out loud, write it down, and place it somewhere you will often see it. A vision board is a good way to practice See and Say and make it happen.

• Short-term goals are those we can achieve rather quickly.

Assign a timestamp to each goal. Most of us like to see results instantly, and these can be reached within only a few months. The next level of short-term goals can be given a six-month mark. Give yourself small daily or weekly tasks to help you reach your deadline. And remember to do what you say you will do.

• Long-term goals are those achieved in five years or more.

Take some time out to contemplate and answer the question, “Where do you want to be in five years?” Most of us will be somewhere different than where we are now in that amount of time. How do you want your current stage in life to change? What world do you want to create for yourself?

Creating your world by goal setting can be achieved using a holistic approach. It does not just have to be a professional goal. There is so much more to our lives than work. So, allow me to give you a little homework. Write down a holistic goal list with these categories: personal, professional, physical, spiritual, family, mental health, and emotional health. Then write your desired short-term and long-term goals next to each. Keep in mind that these goals can and should change as you grow with them.

In Closing

In closing, we hope to have offered you tools for growth that you can use. We aim to bring you every opportunity to succeed and to develop a voice that elevates change in the industry. Sterile Processing is a great starting point to develop your professional and personal goals. By taking the next step, going the extra mile, setting goals, and taking the time to contemplate the desires for your life. 2022 has every possibility of being your best year yet.

Reference

Advantage Support Services, Inc https://advantagesupportservices.com/education-training-programs/

Stevenson, James. “FREE And Stylish PDF Goal Setting Worksheets.” WiseGoals.Com, Wise Goals, 22 May 2020, www.wisegoals.com/goal-setting-worksheets.html.

Angela Lewellyn Director of Development and Research

Advantage Support Services, Inc.