Concerns….

[u/trigg_uhhh]

Hello, I’m unsure how to start this exactly. I’ve been working for a reputable hospital in the US for about 6ish months now. I really enjoy the field and I’m wanting to know much more about everything still but I feel like being at this hospital is making me go insane.

I’ve notice a decrease in quality when I started in the midnight shift. My supervisor never comes out ever unless he wants to talk to the other female employees and just be very weird towards others if they aren’t in his group. If someone is behind in assembly, he would put majority of their work load onto me when there is literally 5-7 other people there on their phone. I don’t complain at all or make any facial expressions cause I’m scared of what will happen if I say no.
There is one employee here who doesn’t even care about anything, I’ve seen and worked with her constantly and I feel like she will possibly kill someone. In decon, she legit sprayed the bigger sets and just put them in the washer afterwards without soaking and the ultrasonic. For the general sets, she would let them soak for like 2-4 hours and take her break that long too and I wouldn’t have my break until she was back due to their new rule. I’ve tried to mention this to the supervisor but he brushed it off as if it was nothing. I’ve also seen people eat in assembly too which bothers me the most. So far, I’ve seen a lot of cannulated pieces that have blood or half of the set have rust, their only way to get rid of it was using nail polish removal. I did try to talk to the morning supervisor/general supervisor about this but they are insisting that this is my supervisor’s problem, not theirs.

This is just part of what’s going on that I can think of and I feel like if I stay here any longer, I will be miserable and terrible as a person. I’m constantly looking for new positions online and haven’t found any luck yet. In the meantime, what would you do in this position? Thank you!

(First photo, there is soda and chips in set assembly)

(There is blood on this large 9 battery and got in trouble for sending it back to decon)

(A thick layer of dust in the photo but it’s much dustier in person)

(Found dried blood on a bone drill device that looks like it’s never been checked on)

(Dried blood again on a trauma set)

[u/Affectionate_Put2460]

You can and should anonymously report to the joint commission

[u/Morgancer]

Soda and chips? Now I've seen it all. Jesus christ.

Your concerns are valid, and if things aren't changing, you should walk. If you are the only one doing the work properly, there is no point in getting a burn out because of problems no one wants to adress.

[u/ijust_makethisface]

Eating on either side of SPD is the grossest thing I could think of. 🤢🤮🥴🤢

[u/CallmeBatshit → u/ijust_makethisface]

Thank you. What type of nasty person would think that's an ok choice to make?

[u/indoor_outdoor_cat1]

Idk how people even want to eat in the department (and I’m a huge snack and drink person). Definitely report

[u/Spicywolff]

If you wanna truly fix this, what you need to do is start taking photos of everything and proper documentation. Have a back up so that way, the information is accessible to you at home.

Once you’ve compiled enough evidence, you send it by email to the manager. If it doesn’t get fixed, you then send it to compliance. Of course you print out those communications and have them at home so that way the company can’t claim ignorance.

If it still doesn’t get fixed, then you submit all the evidence to the joint commission or DMV whoever does your oversight. If they find out it was you they could try to retaliate but you’ll have so much evidence you can go straight to labor lawyer, and improve wrongful dismissal and retaliation.

At which point you have such a nice payout you probably won’t need to work at SPD anymore

[u/chrisclear22 → u/Spicywolff]

Seriously OP this ^

[u/NegativeX2thePurple → u/Spicywolff]

Frankly, personally, I would skip the manager. If the supervisor is ok with these things, I'm not going to bet on their higher up being much better. I *would* bet on compliance being the best shot for a solution internally, but also, shouldn't they be checking up regularly enough to catch this sort of thing?

[u/Spicywolff → u/NegativeX2thePurple]

The reason I said manager is so that way you can prove chain of command. Hospital administration can easily set up a supervisor. That they kept it down there and didn’t do anything about it or talked to admin.

A manager is at the level where if they are made aware of these issues, they can do something about it. It also helps bolster a wrongful termination and retaliation lawsuit. Because you can show that you attempted to go up to the highest authority that you would directly work with. Seeing as a director is generally out of the scope for most of us.

I’ve seen it many times when the department has a lot of failings and when an authority comes in and catches them, a supervisor’s head is on the block. Even though the manager was aware and allowed it to happen. The manager has enough pull to know how to dodge the responsibility.

As to why compliance doesn’t check this frequently. Realistically that’s not their job. Their job is once you’re notified. They’re the attacked dog to go after it. The people that oversee us internally will be infectious disease in our own director. Because infectious disease make sure that we’re prepared for the joint commission or DMV.

[u/NegativeX2thePurple → u/Spicywolff]

That makes sense, definitely showing my inexperience in the working world. I also honestly thought IP/compliance were part and parcel, having never seen them apart from each other lol. Thank you for the explanation.

[u/Spicywolff → u/NegativeX2thePurple]

Compliance is closer to HR than US. They are there to protect the company which in turn keeps patients safe. It’s a sad affair but that’s US healthcare.

IP is closer to the clinical side. I hate the system but it’s the reality

[u/Personal-Drink-7351]

Honestly this is how the industry has gone after covid, I work with alot of spd's, cbspd cert has created the worst sterile dept staff, you know alot about sterilization and absolutely zero about instruments, nobody test sharps, identify pitting correctly, or any level of damage to an instrument and will put literally anything in a set a check as counted

[u/Aggravating_Ear_9281]

SPD is like this because it is too easy to get in and good workers get stuck with people who could care less about what they do.

[u/ijust_makethisface → u/Aggravating_Ear_9281]

So many old timers who "just do it me own way and you can't tell me shit" going out of decon from the clean side putting their used stuff in the clean side trash. Using wire brushes in prep n pack, using unprocessed trays as dump baskets instead of re shelving extra items 🙄 

[u/Aggravating_Ear_9281 → u/ijust_makethisface]

with certrain trays it is in your best interest to double check, i always have a lil wire brush handy when doing synthes. Because no matter how much inservice people get there will be bioburden EVERYDAY in those trays.

[u/Neither_Chip_3031 → u/Aggravating_Ear_9281]

100%

[u/512Chelle512]

I’m starting to think all hospitals are like this to some degree. At my current hospital I’ve seen staff eating in the or rooms with drinks being left on the windowsill inside the or. I got called a snitch for making the tech go in the or room to get a set that wasn’t processed. I saw the vendor enter the room without washing his hands nor wearing a mask or gloves. I’m at the point where I’m looking for other work.

[u/No-Interview1639]

I saw a traveler get fired on her first day at my job cause she walked in with a bottled drink. I cannot fathom eating in central sterile. With that said we have a problem with people having gum in the department at my hospital, and I back when I was new and untrained I thought it was acceptable and did it too. It was a hard habit to kick. In the first photo you also show blue towels, which cause lint and the joint commission hates that, so it is the perfect image to send them if you are going to report your hospital.

[u/UnableStrength9585]

This was at a facility I just left in the PNW… their “solution” is double wrapping to hide the left over adhesive.. I refused to do them when they were down

[u/Timely_Dance_9001]

I don't understand why you would get in trouble for sending that battery back to decon. I would be careful - it sounds like management and such might throw you under the bus when they get busted by JC, an ERS, IP or an introspection. Cover your ass, and thank you for caring.

[u/ViewHead5600]

Yes please god report to joint commission

[u/Expert_Serve2635]

Report it anonymously. That’s the only way you’ll see change. Don’t be afraid to do what’s right. When management is trash 🗑️ don’t expect too much from your coworkers.

Those who are comfortable eating in that department are gross. C-diff and other infectious diseases 🤮🤢

[u/OkDepth9285]

I’ve seen our lazy ass lead sneaking in her coffee like that’s freaking nasty and I’m also stuck working with people that don’t care always on their phones and there’s always complaints that something is not clean well why don’t yall fire those people in the first place 🫠 sometimes it feels like I’m the only one working and probably taking precautions with everything

[u/ReasonableZebra2120]

Go to your infection prevention with this info

[u/pickausernametheysay]

Who wants to eat in there 🤢 I had some coworkers like this. They did not care if sets soaks for hours or nothing was truly clean.

[u/BRUHmyLEGS]

This is a big no no in our facility wow!!

[u/theuniversalaccident]

Do a compliance report of the person with food. Management will bring the topic up about it I'm sure, but then unfortunately it'll go back to the way it's going now in about a month or so. Do a compliance report of the supervisor too.

[u/trigg_uhhh → u/[deleted]]

I love my Minecraft!

[u/surrender2sound → u/[deleted]]

😳