Understanding current water quality is a starting point for ST108 implementation. John Kimsey, vice president of processing optimization and customer success for STERISS, spoke about his HSPA presentation on assessing readiness, distinguishing system qualification from routine testing, and understanding where water samples should be collected.
Understanding a water quality standard is one task. Determining what it means for a sterile processing department’s equipment, testing practices, and daily operations is another. In an interview with Infection Control Today® (ICT®), discussing his presentation at the 2026 Healthcare Sterile Processing Association (HSPA) Annual Conference, held in Baltimore, Maryland, from April 25 to 28, John Kimsey, vice president of processing optimization and customer success for STERIS, described an educational approach intended to help attendees move from initial questions toward a clearer understanding of their own systems.
His presentation centers on AAMI ST108 and an 8-step approach to understanding and working toward adherence. Rather than assuming attendees already know their water quality status or testing needs, Kimsey described beginning with the standard itself, assessing current conditions, and examining what implementation would involve.
“Now, I'm going to walk through those 8 steps, but this is really for somebody who wants to understand the standard, what it means, and what are the steps that they can take to both understand it, take a little bit step into there and do some water testing, see where we are today, and then make that decision because it is a voluntary standard,” Kimsey said.
That sequence places an assessment of existing conditions near the beginning of the conversation. Testing, in his description, helps an organization understand where it stands before deciding its next steps. It also gives attendees a practical starting point for a subject that can otherwise feel difficult to translate into action.
Kimsey framed the organizational decision as a question of readiness and accountability.
“Do I really want to adopt the standard, or do I want to do some more work before I adopt it and be held accountable to it?” he said.
His characterization of ST108 as voluntary was part of his presentation preview. The interview did not address how particular regulatory, accreditation, contractual, or organizational requirements might affect an individual facility. It also did not provide the eight steps themselves, so the discussion offers an overview of the planned session rather than a complete implementation checklist.
What Kimsey did identify was the scope of the education: the standard’s details, water quality considerations, and different forms of testing. Those subjects connect the initial assessment to the ongoing work needed to understand system performance.
“I'll then walk through all the details of the standard, the water qualities, the different types of testings,” he said.
He distinguished testing used to qualify a system from testing performed routinely afterward. That distinction matters to the structure of his presentation because the questions surrounding an initial evaluation are not identical to those involved in continued monitoring. He also identified sampling locations as a specific subject attendees could expect the session to address.
“The testing you do just to qualify in your system, and then the ongoing routine testing of what those mean, as well as where you take the water samples from,” Kimsey said.
Together, those topics form a progression: understand the standard, gather information about current conditions, examine the testing involved, and consider the work ahead. Kimsey presented the session as a comprehensive introduction for professionals trying to understand what adherence would require.
For sterile processing leaders, the interview highlights a useful set of questions to bring into that education. What is known about the current water system? What testing has been completed? What is the purpose of each test, and where are samples collected? Kimsey’s planned presentation was intended to make those decisions easier to understand by connecting the standard with an organization’s starting point and its next actions.
