Healthcare Hygiene magazine November 2019 | Page 35

sterile processing
By Hank Balch
Sterile Processing Recruiting in an Age of
Options: If You Post it, They May Not Come
T
here are few better times in the history of sterile process-
ing (SP) to be an experienced professional with a strong
resume and industry credentials to back it up. With the U.S.
Bureau of Labor Statistics projecting 10 percent to 14 percent
growth in the medical device reprocessing field by 2028, all
signs point to continued career opportunities for technicians
and department leaders. 1 This growth, however, brings
with it tremendous pressures on hospitals and ambulatory
surgery centers to identify, recruit and retain high-quality SP
professionals. Many facilities are already feeling the pinch
of this competitive job market, seeing their open manager
and director positions sit vacant for many months at a time,
and spending large percentages of their labor budgets on
temporary frontline staffing as the permanent positions go
through an extended recruiting process.
There are many contributing factors driving the challenges
that we see in today’s SP recruiting atmosphere. First, the
impact of Baby Boomer retirements is not just a nursing
phenomenon but will have similar effects on the shrinking
numbers of experienced SP leaders currently in the field. Dr.
Peter Buerhaus has projected that 1 million RNs will retire
by 2030 and that “the departure of such a large cohort of
experienced RNs means that patient-care settings that depend
on RNs will face a significant loss of nursing knowledge and
expertise that will be felt for years to come.” 2 There is no
reason to believe that our departments will be immune to
the negative effects of this retirement “brain drain.”
Secondly, the known compensation shortcomings of
entry-level SP positions are a tremendous barrier for active
recruiting out of competitive industries or contiguous geo-
graphical areas. With some facilities paying as little as $10
per hour for SP technicians, recruiters end up competing
with retail and customer service employers for the same
limited pool of candidates. These kinds of limited financial
incentives mean that enticing experienced professionals
to transfer roles geographically poses an even greater
challenge, leaving many facilities with few options but to
hire and train on the job.
Thirdly, the market’s need for certified and experienced
SP professionals 0feeds into the growing ranks of temporary
staffing agencies and interim management organizations,
creating a kind of self-perpetuating staffing spiral. High-per-
formers who gain their baseline certifications and are willing
to travel can make more than double their full-time salaries
by becoming SPD “travelers,” and department leaders can
triple their salaries by serving as interim managers in facilities
that are struggling to recruit a permanent leader.
Lastly, many hospital recruiters do not understand what
they should be looking and recruiting for in a potential SP
technician. While the recruiting structures vary, it is not un-
www.healthcarehygienemagazine.com • november 2019
common for so-called “clinical recruiters” to cover recruiting
for perioperative staff such as RNs, surgical technicians and
anesthesia personnel, but recruiting responsibility for sterile
processing is placed under “non-clinical recruiting” which
includes other departments such as dietary, environmental
services and linen services. Inherent in this structure is the
idea that what makes a great candidate for a dietary role
might also make a great candidate for SP positions. For
many reasons, categorizing SP departments as non-clin-
ical recruiting pools leads to an unhelpful narrowing of
potential candidates.
As dire as this situation may sound, there are certain
insights that can be leveraged to find success in sourcing
high-quality SP candidates. Department leaders must realize
they must take an active role in the recruiting process if
they want to have the greatest success with opening up a
pipeline of potential hires. Relying on a hospital recruiter
who does not have the subject-matter expertise of our field
to identify these professionals is really asking them to hit
a moving target.
Related to this, department leaders need to get creative
about where and how their candidates are sourced. If
“recruiting” in your hospital simply means posting the job
on the hospital website, then you should not be surprised
that your applicant pool is primarily internal candidates
looking to transfer from another department, instead
of reaching the broader audience outside of the facility.
Taking the time to post fliers at a local community college,
healthcare trade school and coffee shops can extend your
reach dramatically. Partnering with local organizations such
as refugee placement and military veteran groups can also
broaden your potential network for candidates with previous
related experience in various contexts.
Confronting staffing challenges will not be easy; however,
knowing the factors that have led to our current state gives
us the insight necessary to develop strategies that can have
real success. The days of posting a job and waiting for a
flood of quality applicants is over. What the future looks
like is up to you. 
Hank Balch is an internationally recognized thought
leader in the sterile processing industry, as well as podcast
host, and founder of Beyond Clean.
References:
1. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2018 wage data  and 2018-2028
employment projections. https://www.onetonline.org/link/de-
tails/31-9093.00
2. Buerhaus PI, et al. Four Challenges Facing the Nursing Workforce
in the U.S. http://healthworkforcestudies.com/images/JNR0717_40-
46_Buerhaus.pdf
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