This month’s Periop Leader Week included programming intended to foster cross-functional communication and collaboration between OR teams and sterile processing departments (SPDs), as well as between infection preventionists and SPDs. Conversations with Periop Leader Week speakers and attendees who work in sterile processing revealed a unanimous desire for SPD to become more fully integrated and recognized in the field of perioperative services.
And that makes sense. After all, there would be no surgeries without the tireless efforts of sterile processing professionals in ensuring instruments and other equipment are safe for use on every patient who enters an OR. In addition to its crucial roles in patient safety and infection prevention, a well-functioning SPD also plays a huge role in optimizing OR block utilization and patient throughout. SPD might not be a “revenue-generating” department like perioperative services, but its work can not only enhance perioperative efficiency but also save facilities, providers and surgeons significant amounts of money through avoidance of surgical site infections and other forms of patient harm that can result from broken or unclean instruments.
I bring this up because October 11 to 17 is Sterile Processing Week 2026, and that means it’s time to celebrate those who literally do the dirty work behind the scenes to keep surgery safe, every hour of every day.
The week’s organizer, the Healthcare Sterile Processing Association (HSPA), states that “it is our hope that Sterile Processing Week brings the appreciation and respect that is so greatly deserved” by sterile processing professionals. HSPA counts more than 61,000 members and certification holders.
“HSPA is grateful for every Sterile Processing professional,” adds the organization. “Thank you for the heart and soul you put into your work each day. With your tireless dedication, your healthcare customers can count on clean and sterile instruments for use on patients. With your ongoing due diligence and dependable equipment and process monitoring, surgeries can be performed without delay. With your unwavering adherence to industry standards, best practices, and policies and procedures, patient safety is never sacrificed. All of this is because of you.”
HSPA offers a dedicated website for Sterile Processing Week, accessible here. It offers a variety of resources to recognize and celebrate your own SPD and its staff, including:
To all those who work in, manage and direct hospital and ASC SPDs to make safe surgery happen every day, a very Happy Sterile Processing Week 2026! And here’s to many more. Thank you very much for all you do.
