How ignoring sterile processing input exposes hospitals to risks—and why ST108 makes cross-functional alignment non-negotiable
A new article in Healthcare Purchasing News highlights a familiar but urgent truth: Sterile Processing Departments (SPD) are still fighting for a seat at the table, even though the work they do directly determines surgical readiness, patient safety, and financial performance.
The author interviewed dozens of SPD professionals who all echoed the same theme:
Hospitals make decisions every day—equipment purchases, renovations, staffing, utilities—that directly affect sterilization safety and throughput… yet SPD teams are often consulted last, or not consulted at all.
From a Facilities Manager’s perspective, this should sound alarm bells. Because while SPD runs the instruments, Facilities runs the environment those instruments depend on—the water, steam, utilities, plumbing, and infrastructure that underpin safe reprocessing.
And now, with ANSI/AAMI ST108, the two groups are officially tied at the hip.
The Hidden Operational Risks of Leaving SPD Out of Decisions
The article outlines example after example of avoidable risk created simply because SPD wasn’t brought into the conversation early enough:
New surgical instruments purchased with no IFU review
Equipment validated for water quality the hospital can’t produce
Single-use instruments that still require SPD support
New construction and renovations planned without SPD workflow in mind
Sole-source purchasing contracts that conflict with IFU requirements
Clinicians ordering devices directly, bypassing SPD feasibility review
As one SPD leader put it:
“We’re not the instrument manufacturer—but we’re the ones who have to handle it, clean it, and make it safe.”
When SPD gets excluded, Facilities ends up inheriting an impossible task: making unsafe, non-compliant, or poorly vetted equipment work inside aging infrastructure or inconsistent utility conditions.
This is where ST108 steps in.
ST108 Makes Cross-Functional Alignment Mandatory
Under ANSI/AAMI ST108:2023, water used for medical device processing is no longer a background consideration—it’s a regulated utility.
And the standard expressly requires:
Ongoing monitoring
Documentation
Validation
Facilities–SPD collaboration
Corrective actions when water quality deviates from specification
In short:
SPD cannot be compliant without Facilities. Facilities cannot be compliant without SPD.
The article’s examples of miscommunication, hidden risk, and operational blind spots reflect exactly what ST108 was designed to prevent.
Where Facilities Must Step Forward
The article outlines a powerful list of hospital decisions where SPD must have a seat at the table. What it doesn’t explicitly say—but strongly implies—is that Facilities must be sitting right next to them.
Facilities has direct influence over:
Water quality systems
Steam generation
Utility reliability
Renovation planning
Equipment lifecycle
Environmental conditions
Budgeting and capital planning
These are the exact elements ST108 now places under scrutiny.
When Facilities and SPD operate separately, hospitals experience:
Instrument damage
Increased reprocessing cycle times
Non-compliant water conditions
OR delays and cancellations
Higher infection risk
Financial losses from downtime
But when Facilities, SPD, and Infection Prevention form a united front, hospitals gain:
Safer instrument processing
Faster OR turnover
Fewer unexpected failures
Clearer documentation for surveyors
Stronger justification for upgrades and capital investment
Far smoother ST108 compliance journeys
Why Real-Time Water Quality Monitoring Is Becoming Essential
One unstated takeaway from the article is this:
You cannot meet modern reprocessing standards with reactive water management.
If Facilities is discovering problems only when SPD calls and says:
“Washers are down.”
“Conductivity spiked.”
“Instruments have residue.”
“Endotoxin is out of range.”
…it’s already too late.
ST108 expects hospitals to:
Know their water condition continuously
Document it
Act on deviations
Protect surgical uptime proactively
Real-time monitoring gives Facilities and SPD a shared source of truth—one dashboard, one dataset, one understanding of the health of the water utility feeding every washer, sterilizer, and sink.
This shared visibility eliminates finger-pointing, speeds troubleshooting, and enables an entirely new level of operational resilience.
A Call to Action for Hospital Leaders
The Healthcare Purchasing News article ends with a clear message:
Early involvement of SPD prevents costly mistakes and protects patient care.
We would add:
Early involvement of Facilities prevents ST108 violations, utility failures, and surgical downtime.
Hospitals that bring these two teams together—supported by real-time data, modern monitoring, and aligned standards—will be the ones that move fastest toward safe, compliant, and financially stable sterile processing operations.
Hospitals that don’t… will continue reliving the avoidable problems highlighted in the article.
If you’d like to continue this conversation, contact us!