IAHCSMM VIEWPOINT
CS Week approaching: Don’t miss the chance to tout your team
by Julie E. Williamson
out to Central Service professionals to learn how they and their peers plan on celebrat- ing their discipline during International Central Service Week. And each year, I typically hear from at least one or two forthcoming and beleaguered individuals who state their facilities have no plans to honor their CS staff. Sometimes, limited budgets are to blame. Other times, I’m told their facility doesn’t recognize the CS team’s contributions throughout the year, and so any CS Week celebrations tend never to manifest.
E Regardless of the reason behind a facil-
ity’s decision to overlook CS Week and not give it more than a passing glance on the calendar, it’s a disheartening turn of events, to say the least. CS professionals play an especially vital role in the delivery of safe, high-quality patient care, and their due- diligence also contributes greatly to the re- duction of hospital-acquired infections and other negative outcomes. CS professionals are true partners in infection prevention and patient safety, even though they typi- cally never come in direct contact with the patients being served. They are also some of the collective healthcare team’s most valuable players, even though they often work in more isolated areas of the facility that aren’t frequently visited by C-suite executives, healthcare customers and, in some cases, even infection preventionists and risk managers. For those reasons, it’s perhaps even more
essential that CS professionals carve out ample time to celebrate themselves dur- ing their week of honor (CS Week is Oct. 11-17, 2015). After all, if they don’t praise their — and their fellow CS peers’ many valuable contributions — how can they expect others in the facility to step forward and give them due credit?
Show – and tell CS Week is a perfect time to share your team’s successes. Has your department recently become 100 percent certified? Have you implemented new policies or
ach year, the International Association of Healthcare Central Service Materiel Management (IAHCSMM) reaches
procedures that improved outcomes, streamlined efficiencies, or otherwise helped improve service delivery to custom- ers and patients? Have you managed to signifi cantly reduce staff turnover, while increasing professionalism and excellence through continuing education and other initiatives? If so, be sure to tout those ac- complishments and encourage others to rally behind you.
If it’s been a while since an administrator,
infection preventionist, front-line care- giver, human resources professional, or others have stepped inside the CS depart- ment, there’s no better time to pay them a personal visit to invite them to your CS Week functions, and ask them how they might be able to help you spread the word and make the week a greater success. If you have a solid ally in the OR or another department, be sure to recruit their talents, as well, for your CS Week celebrations, and then offer to return the favor during their discipline’s dedicated celebratory week. Often, the best CS Week turnouts occur when the team gets creative with their of- ferings, and encourages participation and lively engagement each day of the week. Instead of just offering an ice cream social where people gather for an hour one day, for example, how about serving ice cream after a departmental tour or brief educa- tional session that highlights what takes place within the CS department’s walls? Have new, automated processing equip- ment? Why not offer a demonstration, while sharing how it’s helping your team better meet the needs of customers? True, food and beverages may initially draw people to your department, but educating participants in uniquely fun and targeted ways is what will help keep them coming back for more.
What follows are some other helpful tips to make the 2015 International CS Week a resounding success: • Plan ahead. Waiting until the last minute to plan CS Week activities typically gar- ners less than effective results. Let other healthcare professionals in your facility and members of the general community know about CS Week well in advance (a
36 August 2015 • HEALTHCARE PURCHASING NEWS •
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month or two ahead is ideal), and share with them why celebrating your profes- sion is important. Place ads in hospital newsletters, post fl yers in common areas, and consider writing an article to run in local newspapers (be sure to include im- portant details, such as department tour/ open house dates, times of educational events, etc.).
• Avoid isolation. Although it’s important for CS managers to show their personal appreciation for their team, be sure to encourage other departments/disci- plines to join in the festivities. Consider an open house for one day of CS Week, for example, and recruit vendors to pro- vide educational inservices on another one or two. Host a fun, yet informative, education-based lunch, dinner or dessert social, and invite team members from the OR, Infection Prevention, Endoscopy, and C-Level executives, elected offi cials, and others, to participate. The more they know about CS and its contributions, the better they will appreciate the team’s ef- forts and work to meet the department’s needs moving forward.
• Recruit healthcare customers. Work with your healthcare customers (i.e., OR, Endoscopy, Labor & Delivery) and create poster presentations, bulletin boards or hands-on demonstrations of how each department can assist CS (and vice versa) in doing their job more effectively and effi ciently.
• Think beyond the buck. Budgets are often tight, but don’t let that stop you from celebrating CS Week. Some of the best ways to honor the CS team requires just a little time and minimal (or no) cost. Consider giving handwritten notes to staff to acknowledge their contributions, and ask healthcare customers to do the same. Awards can also be printed for little or no money. Don’t forget the power or a heartfelt “Thank You” and pat on the back. These cost nothing, but often mean the most to hardworking staff. HPN
For more information about International CS Week, visit
www.iahcsmm.org/events/ cs-week.html .
IAHCSMM VIEWPOINT
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