Breaking the seal: Defects in sterile processing.

This study provides the first national-level data on measuring defects in sterile processing departments (SPDs). Over 90% of SPDs reported at least one defect in a single week, with higher defects in facilities that reported inconsistent usage of quality checklists or tracking systems and lacked staff certification requirements. These findings highlight the need for systemic interventions, such as workflow standardization, integrated tracking, and uniform staff certification requirements to improve SPD performance and patient safety.