By: Christina Carpentier, Sterile Processing Manager, Seattle Children’s Hospital

In brief:

• Culture clashes between sterile processing and operating room teams are often rooted in assumptions, lack of role clarity and breakdowns in communication.
• Small, intentional actions like showing up consistently and grounding conversations in shared data can lay the foundation for real trust and lasting collaboration.

Despite working toward the same patient safety goals, sterile processing departments (SPD) and operating rooms (OR) can struggle to align. Many SPD professionals enter the field having heard that tension with the OR is just part of the job. At the same time, some OR staff receive limited training on what sterile processing does behind the scene.

When these early assumptions are left unaddressed, it can quietly shape culture and communication for years to come. Over time, this disconnect can lead to finger-pointing when problems arise rather than collaborative problem-solving.

However, it doesn’t have to be this way. I wrote this blog to share what I’ve learned about rebuilding fractured relationships by showing up consistently, listening first and creating conditions for trust to take root.

Rebuilding relationships from the ground up

When I arrived at Seattle Children’s Hospital, the relationship between the SPD and the OR was tense. Staff were guarded. Everyone was used to working in silos, doing their jobs and going home. The disconnect was having a real impact on output.

I knew I couldn’t fix that overnight, but I could start by listening. I spent time alongside staff across different areas of the department, observing workflows and asking them to teach me their process. As a new SPD Manager, initially I felt unwelcome in the OR. But by showing up consistently, asking thoughtful questions and staying engaged, I began to earn trust.

We also started creating new ways for the SPD and OR teams to interact. We held potlucks to break the ice, invited SPD staff to shadow cases in the OR and brought OR staff to the SPD to understand how trays were assembled and reprocessed. These weren’t major initiatives. They were small but intentional actions that helped rebuild mutual respect and open up new channels for communication.

Using data to clear the air

In addition to conversations, restoring trust also takes proof. My early observations found that a lot of misunderstandings stemmed from misinterpreted or missing data. I quickly made it a priority to ensure everyone was working from the same information. That didn’t mean overhauling everything at once. Even small, targeted tools can make a meaningful impact when used with intention.

For example, a simple quick-reference guide that helped OR teams distinguish between real contamination and visual anomalies like staining or mineral deposits made a huge impact. It quickly helped both teams better understand what’s worth flagging rather than escalating everything, which was creating a pipeline of unnecessary delays and reworks.

These efforts also helped us engage the OR team more directly. We used joint mock-ups of the sterilization-to-use process and invited them to in-services where they could ask questions directly to SPD leads. By including them in the solution, not just the escalation, we shifted the dynamic from reactive to collaborative.

You don’t need to solve everything at once. Sometimes the smallest changes can create the biggest breakthroughs.

The bottom line

Rebuilding the relationship between SPD and the OR requires intention. When leaders take the time to listen, stay present and create opportunities for shared understanding, teams start to shift. Assumptions are replaced with context, blame gives way to problem-solving and people begin to work together instead of around each other.

There’s still more work ahead, but these early steps laid the foundation for a stronger, more collaborative future. Learn more stories and strategies in future blogs.