PROCESS THIS!, a Podcast by HSPA

The HSPA Season of Giving is here! To help advance patient safety, the Healthcare Sterile Processing Association established the HSPA Foundation in 2016. Dedicated Sterile Processing (SP) professionals commit to continuing education and professional development to remain focused on doing what’s right in the name of patient safety—for every instrument, surgical case and patient. The Foundation’s mission is to support SP professionals and our industry through educational initiatives, research, scholarships, professional development grants and awards. In this December 2025 special episode, host Casey Czarnowski speaks with Richard Schule, Senior Director for Enterprise Sterile Processing with the Cleveland Clinic, and Damien Berg, VP of Strategic Initiatives at HSPA, about the HSPA Foundation. Our guests discuss the Foundation’s background, successes and current initiatives, both in the U.S. and internationally. Listen to learn about the important work of the Foundation and how you can support your community and participate in the Season of Giving. Our Guests: Richard Schule, MBA, FAST, FCS, AAMIF, is the Senior Director for Enterprise Sterile Processing with the Cleveland Clinic. Damien Berg, BA, BS, CRCST, AAMIF, serves as HSPA’s Vice President of Strategic Initiatives and is an HSPA Past-President (2018–2019). Additionally, he works closely with regulatory bodies and standards-making groups, including the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) and International Organization for Standardization (ISO), and he serves on the Executive Committee for the World Federation for Hospital Sterilisation Sciences (WFHSS). Please note: CE credit is not offered for this episode.

Since 1978, the Mercy Ships organization has served patients in parts of the world where medical resources are difficult to access. In that time, Mercy Ships doctors, nurses and technicians, all volunteers, have performed more than 100,000 surgeries with their fleet of state-of-the-art floating hospitals. In this meaningful episode, host Jon Wood speaks with Katie Vaughn-Bates, Sterile Processing Educator at the University of Rochester and recipient of the HSPA Foundation’s Mercy Ships Scholarship. Vaughn-Bates shares her account of living and working as a mission volunteer. She provides insight into the application process and discusses the similarities and differences of sterile processing activities on a vessel. (Spoiler alert: The technical work is much the same; the interactions with surgeons and patients are not.) Listen to hear about life aboard the Africa Mercy and learn how you can help bring hope and healing to those in need. ABOUT OUR GUEST Katie Vaughn-Bates, Sterile Processing Educator, URMC Ortho Surgical Center Katie Vaughn-Bates, CRCST, CHL, CIS, CER, has more than 12 years of experience in sterile processing and currently serves as the SP Educator at the University of Rochester Medical Center’s Orthopaedic Surgery Center. She focuses on instrument care, reprocessing and compliance, helping to ensure best practices are followed to support patient safety and positive surgical outcomes. Earn CE Now

The concept of Lean has been around for many years. What started as a manufacturing concept has been embraced by healthcare as an effective system to increase efficiency while maintaining quality in patient care. However, if its goals and mechanics are not properly understood, Lean can be applied ineffectively, causing an erosion in the confidence of those who use the process. In episode 135, host Casey Czarnowski speaks with John Kimsey of STERIS about properly utilizing Lean concepts in the Sterile Processing (SP) workflow. Kimsey concisely encompasses the five concepts of the Lean workplace philosophy: “People working together and continuously improving to create customer value and meet regulatory requirements without generating waste.” Using this one sentence, Kimsey defines the five elements of Lean, starting with the importance of a culture of “people working together” to implement change. This impactful conversation will inspire healthcare leaders to examine their roles and learn how they can best be motivators of improvement. ABOUT OUR GUEST John Kimsey, VP, Processing Optimization and Customer Success, STERIS John Kimsey is a seasoned healthcare management professional who helps leadership teams and Sterile Processing departments optimize operational performance. Leveraging 10 years of non-healthcare management consulting experience, he joined STERIS in 2001 and began to merge Lean operational approaches with healthcare’s clinical requirements, creating a new vision for Sterile Processing. Kimsey has several published works and speaks at national and international conferences on Sterile Processing topics, such as Lean. He has managed both onsite and offsite reprocessing centers and consulted large and small healthcare customers. At STERIS, he helps customers, industry partners, international teams, and healthcare systems optimize their SPD/CSSD operations for measurable success. Whether solving labor shortages, leadership deficiencies, strategic decisions, or process and quality issues, Kimsey comes with a desire to see people succeed. ABOUT OUR SPONSOR, STERIS STERIS’s mission is to help customers create a healthier and safer world by providing innovative products and services around the globe. STERIS Healthcare works with customers in the perioperative environment to elevate patient care in Operating Rooms, Endoscopy Suites and Sterile Processing departments. Through comprehensive solutions in equipment, consumables, devices and services, we help customers solve their biggest challenges, leverage opportunities for future growth, and advance the care of patients every day. With a long-standing history and commitment in the Sterile Processing department, STERIS understands the need for optimal processes, compliance and outcomes has never been so critical. We work hand-in-hand with customers to provide interconnected offerings to support all areas of reprocessing, from sterilization products and technologies, to instrument management and reprocessing services. For more information, visit www.steris.com/healthcare. Earn CE Now

Like every business, healthcare systems are vulnerable to cyberattack in all of its many forms. For those in healthcare, however, the security of the information we access has special significance. Healthcare systems keep detailed records of patients’ medical diagnoses, test results, payment methods and insurance providers. Information of this nature falling into the wrong hands can have lasting detrimental effects on our facilities and the people we serve. In Sterile Processing, we are primarily concerned with protecting our patients against infection, but we must also be vigilant in safeguarding their protected health information. In episode 133, host Casey Czarnowski speaks with John Kampas, CEO of EMPIST, an IT services and security company. Kampas reviews current and emerging types of cyberattacks, especially those specific to healthcare. He discusses the dark web and how bad actors (criminals) use AI and deepfake technology. Kampas also describes common gaps in healthcare systems and provides strategies facilities can use to improve their cybersecurity and protect business records and patient privacy. Our Guest: John Kampas, Founder and CEO, EMPIST John Kampas is the Founder & CEO of EMPIST, a renowned provider of managed IT services, cybersecurity, cloud solutions, and website design & development. After earning his degree in Management Information Systems from Loyola University Chicago, Kampas founded EMPIST (formerly Digerati Group) in 2000. Under his leadership, the company has expanded and earned numerous accolades, including being named one of Channel Futures’ top 501 Managed Service Providers, recognized by CRN as a top 100 Cybersecurity firm, and honored by Expertise as one of Chicago’s Top 20 Best Managed Service Providers. With 25 years of proven success, EMPIST continues to deliver innovative technology solutions to organizations worldwide, driving growth and success through cutting-edge technology and exceptional service. Earn CE Now

All surgical instruments take effort to render clean and sterile, but some instruments by their design are more difficult to clean than others. Narrow channels, long lumens and tight tolerances challenge our decontamination professionals to remove soil and reduce the incidence of bioburden. In episode 131, host Casey Czarnowski speaks with Noah Roitman and Trevor Hazen of HNM Medical about the dangers and high costs of unclean medical devices. Roitman and Hazen review some of the most challenging instruments and offer strategies for complete cleaning. They also discuss the option of single-use instruments as possible alternatives in the prevention of surgical site infections (SSIs). Guest Speakers: Noah Roitman President HNM Medical As the Founder and CEO of HNM Medical, Noah Roitman has spent over two decades building a globally trusted medical device company dedicated to improving surgical outcomes and elevating the standard of care. His passion lies in designing innovative, single-use surgical technologies that address critical needs in contamination control, reprocessing risk and OR efficiency. Roitman is proud to have helped shift the industry’s perception and adoption of single-use instrumentation across specialties such as neurosurgery, orthopedics and cardiovascular care. HNM Medical now serves hospitals and distributors worldwide with a robust portfolio of high-performance tools that support safer, faster procedures. Trevor Hazen Clinical Resource Director HNM Medical Prior to starting his career in healthcare, Trevor Hazen earned his bachelor’s degree in organizational leadership from Bethel University. Like countless others in the Sterile Processing (SP) industry, Hazen did not know what he was getting into when he started as a vendor in 2015. He instantly fell in love with SP and hasn’t looked back! Since that time, Hazen earned his CCSVP and GTS certifications and became a member of HSPA, AORN and AAMI. He has presented hundreds of in-services at local hospitals and surgery centers and partnered with over 20 local chapters of HSPA, educating thousands of SP professionals about best practices, industry trends, leadership and professional development. Host: Casey Stanislaus Czarnowski, BA, CRCST, CIS, CER Clinical Educator Earn CE Now

Surgical instruments require consistent care from use, through processing and storage, and back to the procedural area. This care saves healthcare systems money and, more importantly, assures that practitioners have the tools that they need, when they need them, to improve patient outcomes. We know from manufacturers’ instructions for use (IFU) and peer-reviewed research that the care of surgical instruments, both simple and complex, begins at the point of use (POU). But how can Sterile Processing professionals communicate effectively with our procedural partners about POU treatment of instruments? In episode 129, host Casey Czarnowski talks with Tami Heacock, System Director of Sterile Processing at Lee Health, about POU treatment (not cleaning!) and its importance to our work in patient care. She discusses guidelines and standards that are available for encouraging POU treatment and strategies for talking with procedural partners about its importance. Earn CE Now