Owens Community College Reduces Supervision Burden for SPD Rotations by 75%
less lesson prep time needed by faculty
fewer check-ins needed for clinical rotations
avg. saving per lesson
for students
Background
Owens Community College is a public higher education institute in Ohio that offers a dedicated Sterile Processing Certificate with 180 hours of hands-on experience. Students are roughly a 50/50 mix of Surgical Technology and Sterile Processing tracks. For faculty, the challenges of running the program were typical of clinical training institutes: equipment is expensive, and reliable resources for instructors are severely lacking. This required them to spend large amounts of time preparing lessons and checking in with students in clinical placements, introducing a large administrative burden conflicting with pastoral and teaching responsibilities.
Change
Building on Owens's established use of Incision Academy for Surgical Technologists, department chair April Kesler spearheaded a curriculum-wide implementation of the Incision for SPD program, building Incision courses into their weekly learning schedule to cover different elements of sterile processing in depth. Instructors use the Incision program to match lessons, monitor progress, and ensure all teaching resources meet best-practice industry standards. Students complete courses in alignment with their learning schedule, using interactive and video-learning to gain familiarity with complex equipment and processes before they enter the clinical environment.
Impact
Faculty reported that their preparation time for classroom-based lessons had reduced by at least 50% compared to semesters before the Incision program was in place. This translated into more budget allocated to practical sessions; for example, the program recently purchased several newer, more advanced electrosurgical instruments for students to learn with.
Once students start the clinical (placement-based) half of the program, they have performed significantly ahead of previous cohorts—enabling Owens faculty to safely reduce their clinical instructor check-in from once a week to once a month. Two-thirds of students (now new professionals) felt that the Incision program reduced their stress about starting work. On average, staff and students felt the program saved them around 30 minutes in their work per lesson.
April Kesler, Department Chair for Surgical Technology and Sterile Processing, Owens Community College, Ohio, USA
