New Hire Orientation Tips and Tricks for SP Onboarding

Recruiting and onboarding team members in health care can be a very costly and demanding task. Searching for talent in the pool of professionals takes time, money, and dedication. The onboarding and training process is extremely specific for highly technical fields like sterile processing and medical device preparations. With the evolving complexities of the surgical instruments themselves and the reprocessing equipment we use everyday to complete the cleaning and sterilization duties it is important for healthcare organizations, leaders, and educators to invest in the onboarding program.

The first part of the onboarding process is to welcome the new hire to the organization, familiarizing them with the location, structure, and values of the organization they are becoming a part of. This would be the initial phase of onboarding, usually in collaboration with human resources, and leadership. Sometimes building a welcome packet can be helpful and an orientation checklist that guides the new hire on what to complete and welcoming them to the department and facility. An orientation checklist can be a simple tool used to track the progress of the new hire and the welcome packet can provide them with helpful information and details about their new employment journey.

It is also critical to the success of a new hire, to have dedicated personnel trained and available to guide the onboarding process and keep track of new hires. This would normally fall to an educator, mentor, or trainer of some sort. This person should be readily available to guide and assist the entire process and be well versed in all items necessary for the department. Sometimes utilizing a team approach can be best, where there are separate sets of responsibilities for each trainer, so one person does not get bogged down with too many new team members at once, limiting the quality of the program or dedication required.

 

Here are a few helpful tools and resources that you can utilize in your onboarding program for sterile processing professionals.

1.    New Hire Orientation Checklist

A checklist used to track the new hire through their training and onboarding process. Will include deadlines, valuable information, and dates of which training objectives are necessary and can help guide a new hire on their journey.

 

• Include important dates and timelines for due dates and can help the employee stay on target.
• Structure the checklist by weeks or dates and include all areas of the department.
• Include a comment section for the new hire and evaluator to keep track of progress and notes.
• Include action plans for areas that were unable to be achieved or require further attention.

 

2.    Welcome packet

A tool built and utilized by a department welcoming new hires to the organization, department, and job responsibilities.

 

• Include things like values and mission of the organization, job responsibilities, resources within the organization, where to find things and the best industry references to adapt the new hire to their new role.
• Including a map can also be helpful or using a scavenger hunt to guide the new hire to all the necessary work areas they will be involved with.
• Include key terms, definitions and common languages that are used in your unit.
• Instructions on where to find important things like fire safety exits, protocols, first aid kits and safety requirements.

 

3.    Policies and Procedures

Make sure to provide copies or access to the pertinent policies and protocols for the organization and department.

 

• Give each new hire appropriate time to review and read the departmental polices, hospital policies, infection control, surgical or perioperative, safety and anything else critical to their position.

 

4.    E-Learning & In-Services

Allow adequate time for new hires to take any mandatory trainings, in-services on equipment or computerized learning management courses. Try to structure these in alignment with their competencies and orientation checklist so new hires are not locked in a room for their first 3 days and are not given time to apply what they have learned in their daily workflow.

 

5.    Contact Sheets

Provide new hires with important contact numbers and call trees so they know who and when to contact personnel.

 

• Operating room numbers for each surgical suites and customer care area will need to be provided to sterile processing staff or any customers you care for.
• Important numbers like infection control and human resources can also be helpful.
• Set expectations during new hire orientation on availability and hours of each location and expected response times.
• Ensure new hires are shown how to access hospital email addresses and utilize all modes of communication required for the job.

 

Sterile processing is very robust, labor intensive and can be a dangerous job. All healthcare personnel and leaders should dedicate time, and potentially a team who focus solely on the development and training of their team. The onboarding process can be a direct result in the longevity and sustainability of the unit, and the overall morale of the team. Ensuring there is a set program and trainers dedicated to this can help new hire feel welcome, and ultimately contribute to the success of their work.