Idaho Falls, ID — Jan Prudent, Manager of Sterile Processing Department at EIRMC, has been selected as a Fellow for the International Association of Healthcare Central Service Material Management (IAHCSMM). There were over 37,000 applicants and only 29 were selected!

To be eligible for selection, Prudent met rigorous standards set by this professional association, including authoring a professional thesis entitled “Raising the Bar by Centralizing High-Level Disinfection Processes.”

This is just one more addition to Prudent’s list of professional accomplishments. For example, she is published as a subject matter expert and reviewer for the Central Service Technical Manual Eighth Edition. Prudent also served with the IAHCSMM Sister Hospital Exchange Program, traveling to Sao Paulo, Brazil to shadow counterparts at Albert Einstein Medical Center.

The Sterile Processing Department staff cleans, assembles, sterilizes, stores and distributes the instruments used throughout the facility. They are on the “front lines” of patient safety and infection prevention.

Governor Brad Little issued a proclamation declaring the week of Oct. 10 - 16 is “Sterile Processing Week” because “sterile processing professionals play an important role in patient care arenas and are responsible for first-line processes to prevent patient infections.”