Below the Hospital

“We’re allies, not auditors.” Melinda Benedict, Director of Infection Prevention & Control at Olympus, joins Below the Hospital host Garland-Rhea Grisby Sr. to discuss the infection preventionist’s perspective and how they can make your life easier. Join them for a spirited discussion on how infection prevention's role in the SPD, plus an in-depth update on endoscope reprocessing, IFU use,...

“Hey just take this up the street.” Transporting medical devices before or after sterilization is more and more common, but how do you do it correctly? Horlando Cintron, Manager of Perioperative Support Services at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, joins host Garland Grisby to discuss best practices, some war stories, and how AAMI TIR109:2025; External transport of reusable medical devices f...

AAMI recently updated ST58, our guidance document on chemical sterilization and high-level sterilization in health care facilities. To understand what this means for you in the sterile processing department, Garland-Rhea Grisby spoke to Alpa Patel, Director of Scientific Improvement at Nelson Labs. Find out how the standard has changed, and what it means for training, quality control, and using st...

What happens when tattoo equipment ends up in the SPD? Jennifer Greisen of Aesculap and Adam Okada of Healthmark join Garland to discuss the wild west of processing the tools used for medical tattooing. There isn’t much official guidance. But Greisen and Okada are convening sterile processing professionals, tattoo device manufacturers, and tattoo artists to provide the first-ever AAMI guidance on...

Tim Hurtado of El Camino Health joins Garland to discuss how the sterile processing department (SPD) can work with clinical and non-clinical partners. If you’ve ever faced staffing shortages, issues with vendors, or siloing within your health facility, check out this episode to learn some best practices for managing these issues and relationships.

How do sterile processing staff interact with surgery centers in hospitals? Tori Ruiz, Area Director of Sterile Processing at Sutter Health, joins host Garland-Rhea Grisby to talk about visibility, collaboration, and “going back to basics.” Join them to learn how hospital departments can work together to keep patients safe and why in-house education is vital.

What do you need to know about water quality in the sterile processing department? Dr. Terra Kremer, Director of Microbiological Quality at Johnson & Johnson, joins Garland to discuss water quality, keeping devices safe, and why listening to end users is a key part of developing procedures and implementing standards. Plus, tips on applying ANSI/AAMI ST108 in your SPD and newinformation on fort...

Garland interviews Malinda Elammari of Healthmark about clinical education for sterile processing professionals. Tune in to hear about what works, what doesn’t, and how education can take your career and the sterile processing field to the next level.

Implementing manufacturer instruction for use (IFUs) is often a challenge. Dr. Atila Nozari of Solventum joins Garland-Rhea Grisby to discuss how IFUs are made, and how to make them better. If you’ve ever looked at an IFU and said, “Who wrote this?” this episode is for you!

Below the Hospital is a new podcast from the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) about sterile processing. Hosted by Garland-Rhea Grisby of Kaiser Permanente, Below the Hospital examines what challenges sterile processing professionals face and how to deal with them. Join us every two weeks as Garland interviews folks from around the field!