The Instrument Tracking Data Goldmine

Hank Balch, founder and President of Beyond Clean, joined host Hilary Kennedy on ConCensis to discuss how instrument tracking data can be a resume goldmine in today’s sterile processing landscape. Balch has a long and extensive resume filled with of industry awards, blogs, social media prowess and conference speeches.

Balch started as a frontline technician in instrument reprocessing. He spoke about how his work in sterile processing changed after becoming a father, when he realized that when it comes to little ones going into surgery, “there is no margin for error.”

“The fatherhood piece is baked into everything I do,” said Balch. He described the industry as being very personal. When it comes to sterile processing, there has been a debate for many years about whether there should be greater background requirements since a higher education degree is not currently an entry-level requirement. Balch weighed both the advantages and disadvantages to this and the potential career opportunities it provides.

For Balch, he doesn’t think career experience is the only indicator of a good job candidate. “We want data that can say ‘I contributed this to the productivity and to the efficiency and to the safety of my department,’” said Balch. He cited total instruments processed and total trays assembled as indicators to look for to defray challenges in the recruiting process.

Balch also discussed how this data could positively impact issues with pay rate in the industry. Recent data has highlighted the significant impact of sterile processors, which is also helping to beef up resumes. “It’s the first step to begin this data-driven conversation at the HR level… that your resume can get to the top of the pile.”

Balch encourages employees to advocate for their departments to track instrument data if they are not already tracking it. “Now everyone in the department will be better positioned to be more competitive in the workplace or the industry as a whole because they can get access to their instrument data.”

Interested in learning more about Censis Technologies’ surgical asset management platform? Visit Censis.com.