In June 2025, HPN examined a wave of evolving standards shaping sterile processing departments (SPD), highlighting the growing complexity of compliance and the increasing expectations placed on departments. Less than a year later, the conversation has shifted.

Today, the issue is no longer awareness – it’s execution.

Patient safety and quality of care are primary topics of contemporary healthcare systems, as they have a direct impact on patient outcomes, organizational performance, and the trust of the population. Despite technological progress and intellectual standards of care, patient safety incidents are still taking place in terrifying proportions. 

Pushing past the double doors leading to the operating suite or
the sterile processing department can feel like passing the point of no return to an infection preventionist (IP) who is either a novice or comes from a non-clinical background, or both. Even some veteran IPs may feel some degree of trepidation at the prospect of observing
in areas of the hospital that may seem complex and mysterious.

Q: “At our facility, we require sterile processing technicians to be certified within one year of employment, but there is no certification requirement for those who are reprocessing flexible scopes. Shouldn’t they also have a certification requirement?”

AORN26 highlights how collaboration between the operating room and sterile processing department (SPD) reduced instrument contamination, minimized case delays, and improved patient safety, reinforcing the critical role of SPD partnerships in perioperative infection prevention.