sterile processing receives national award for "best in industry"

Dayton Children's sterile processing department was honored with the "Department of the Year" award for 2023 by Healthcare Purchasing News. Dayton Children's is the thirty-first organization and third ever pediatric hospital to make this "best in industry" list.

The award, distributed by Healthcare Purchasing News (HPN), recognizes a team's commitment to excellence in sterile processing and their influential role within their facility. A panel of industry experts from across the country evaluate nominations on department customer service, productivity, team work, team education and training and strategic outlook.

Tony Thurmond manages Dayton Children's 35-member sterile processing team, who is responsible for the sterilization, disinfection and inspection of surgical and clinical instruments. In 2022, the team sterilized 1,209,752 instruments with a .01% median error rate and 4,544 scopes with 0% missed bioburden. 

Tony accepted the award earlier this month during Nashville's Health Care Sterile Processing Association conference.

As this year's winner, Dayton Children's received a magazine spread in HPN, the only comprehensive health care magazine dedicated to supply chain management. The feature highlights the department's interdisciplinary collaboration to drive process improvement, error reduction and overall satisfaction. 

The department's challenge coins and new aesthetic features are just two - of many - department initiatives the article details.

Read the full article here.

"I've been doing this for 38 years and Dayton Children's sterile processing team is the best team with which I've ever worked," said Tony. "I would take them, any of them, into battle. They understand the importance and urgency of our role and dig deeper to find better ways of doing things. I'm grateful for HPN for allowing us to share our department's success and recognizing our work."