How Can OR and Sterile Processing Teams Improve Collaboration and Instrument Readiness?

Missing instruments, quality concerns, and an inability to keep pace with surgical demand can strain the relationship between the operating room and sterile processing department (SPD). For John Kimsey, vice president of processing optimization and customer success for STERIS, addressing those problems starts with helping perioperative professionals understand the conditions behind them and the role they can play in improving performance.

Speaking with Infection Control Today^® (ICT^®) at the 2026 Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN) Global Surgical Conference & Expo held in New Orleans, LA, April 11 to 14, 2026, Kimsey described his session, designed to explain why SPD work is so challenging. His approach connects familiar frustrations in the operating room (OR) with the operational realities of instrument reprocessing, encouraging teams to investigate causes together.

“The first one is a look behind the scenes of why SPD is so hard, and I love talking about SPD to the OR nurses because they're vested in that. Obviously, if SPD doesn't work, surgeons don't work,” Kimsey said.

That connection makes sterile processing a shared concern across surgical services. A missing instrument may become apparent when a surgical team needs it, but understanding why it is missing requires looking at the processes, resources, and working conditions that preceded that moment. Kimsey’s presentation was intended to help OR professionals make those connections.

“So, I'll be explaining the root causes between [the questions of] why am I missing instruments, why do I have quality issues, and why can't SPD keep up.” he said.

Kimsey identified collaboration, advocacy for training resources, and adequate space as areas where perioperative teams can help. His emphasis was on developing a partnership that gives OR staff a clearer understanding of SPD challenges and a stronger foundation for supporting improvements.

He also described an experiential approach to building that understanding: SPD Live, a hands-on exercise he said he was presenting for the third consecutive year. Participants work through a simulated department, processing 200 surgical instrument trays represented by cardboard boxes, with crayons standing in for instruments.

“And the surgical trays are actually cardboard boxes, shoe boxes, and crayons on the instruments, but it gives the OR staff a chance to actually get their hands during [dirty] doing SPD work,” Kimsey said.

The activity follows work through cleaning, assembly, sterilization, and case-cart preparation. Participants encounter tasks such as locating missing crayons, translating an instrument-related frustration into something they must resolve themselves. The exercise creates a setting for discussing how the work fits together and what participants can carry back to their own organizations.

Kimsey’s conference plans also included a presentation addressing sterile processing in ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs). He described off-site reprocessing and potential financial partnerships as options for organizations considering growth, including expansion into orthopedic procedures.

His discussion reflected the space and capacity constraints that can accompany those ambitions. The interview did not establish that one model would fit every ASC. Instead, Kimsey framed the presentation as an opportunity to consider additional operational and financial approaches.

“So I'm just bringing them more things to think about, as well as financial options that they can think about as well,” he said.

Across the presentations, Kimsey connected three concerns: understanding why SPD struggles, experiencing the work firsthand, and considering how reprocessing capacity can support organizational plans. For OR professionals, the recurring invitation was to participate in solving the problems they encounter.

The practical value of that partnership is its focus on causes. Training, space, workflow, and capacity become subjects for joint discussion, giving surgical services teams a more informed starting point to improve the work that their procedures depend on.