New Section Added to Sterile Processing Benchmarking Tool

A new section focused on immediate-use steam sterilization (IUSS) has been added to AAMI’s and the International Association of Healthcare Central Service Materiel Management’s (IAHCSMM) sterilization benchmarking tool to help subscribers compare their practices and procedures against other healthcare facilities.

“These questions were added to the platform as part of our continuous improvement and feedback loop from our subscribers and the joint AAMI-IAHCSMM task force. We heard that this was a topic that the industry wanted to benchmark, and we listened,” says Damien Berg, manager of sterile processing at St. Vincent Hospital in Indianapolis. Berg has played a key role in developing the benchmarking tool.

Benchmarking Solutions-Sterile Processing is a digital platform designed to help sterile processing departments measure their budgets, personnel, practices, and policies against similar departments at other facilities. Many facilities have been working to reduce their use of IUSS to improve patient care and safety; however, reducing IUSS usually involves purchasing more instrumentation. The sterile processing benchmarking tool can provide valuable information to support these purchasing requests.

“Benchmarking of IUSS can help subscribers to justify the expenditures needed to minimize the use of IUSS,” says Donna Swenson, president of Sterile Processing Quality Services, Inc., and a member of AAMI sterilization standards committees. “When administrators see that reduction of IUSS is a goal of most healthcare facilities, it is easier to justify the expenditure that is needed to make that happen.”

The tool now contains 195 questions that cover: Clinical relationships and compliance The scope of the sterile processing department Current sterilization procedures and practices Staffing Productivity analysis Financial, space, and computer resources To become a benchmarking subscriber or for additional information, visit www.aami.org/benchmarking.

Source: AAMI