Beyond Clean Canada: More Than Instruments: Supporting Canada's MDR Community

0:00engagement and continuous improvement really, it starts with communication. When people feel informed, valued and connected to the bigger purpose behind their work, a stronger sense of teamwork happens. Since MDR, it's often described as the invisible part of patient care. Creating visibility through communication is so important and when people see the difference that their work makes, accountability and quality, it doesn't feel like tasks on a checklist. It becomes something everyone wants to be part of it and really take pride in. What if one conversation could save a life? What if one new process or new product could save a

1:01patient from surgical harm? Broadcasting from a hospital basement near you, you're listening to the Beyond Clean Canada podcast, the voice of medical device reprocessing from C to C to C. Each week we spotlight the people, processes and products from around the country and the world that are disrupting our profession and helping you fight dirty. Every instrument, every time. Join us as we have the kinds of conversations that matter and give our industry the kind of voice that it deserves. And now it's time to go true North strong and beyond clean. Welcome back all you clean free to another exciting episode of Beyond Clean Canada. Today we are having Danny and Stephanie from Canberra, so buckle up. This is a paid advertisement from Solventum. Do you include a B.I. and C.I. in every sterilization load?

2:06Biological indicators demonstrate the lethality of the sterilization cycle while type 5 steam and type 4 or vaporized hydrogen peroxide chemical indicators monitor critical parameters of exposure time, temperature and sterile presence. Together they help you create a comprehensive defense against contamination and uphold the safety of every patient who places their trust in your facility. Enhance your sterilization standards. 3M health care is now Solventum. Your same account manager is here to support you. Reach out today. From the studios of health care HQ, you're listening to Beyond Clean Canada.

3:07The voice of sterile processing from C to C to C. Welcome clean freaks to another episode of Beyond Clean Canada broadcast. So it's by Stacey Gielin and Barry Pergram. It's March of By, our great friends of Solventum. On today's episode we have not one but two camdare board members. We have secretary Stephanie Mailman-Cross and along with president of camdare Danny Leblanc. Welcome welcome to the podcast. Thank you. Glad to be here. Awesome. Now Danny we know many of our listeners are current camdare members. But for those out there in the community who are not familiar with camdare, can you share just what camdare is in its mission? And for those listeners that aren't members yet, maybe let them know about how they can become a member. Well our mission for camdare in a nutshell is to be a national voice leader in medical advisory processing across across the country. We have provincial associations, not all provinces,

4:12but majority. So camdare basically wants to be is wants to be the voice of these provincial associations all in there. Text across across the country as well to show who we are, what we do. Many of our members are board members are current CSA, a standard or an act standard and other national and international but part of our other international and national organizations. So we are we are the of nationally up from the association, provincial associations, provinces that don't have an association. We are that national voice. We want to be able to convey to members and potential members that you can you can approach us with questions, comments, whatever we take that we share them with our people across the country and internationally as well. And we provide that that type of information and education. We do have as well board numbers. We have provincial advisors through every province of the country and our territories as well. These provincial advisors are kind of a gold between between our board of directors and

5:16our members. So our provincial advisors are basically get the information that that we that are you know questions are asked or whatnot. And they provide that provide that information to the board directors and we meet with the provincial advisors monthly. So any questions, comments or whatever that that are brought up by the members are shared with with our board. The provincial advisors have a two-year term and after two years if we have interest then then they they can step down to somebody else can step in their place. And we hope that provincial advisors at some point in time will become board of directors as well. That's awesome. That's great. And then for those of our listeners who don't know, Camdar is the Canadian Association of Medical Device Reprocessing. You did speak on if a member is to come up with an inquiry or question, who would that member contact? Would that be their provincial advisor? They can contact the provincial advisors for sure but they're you know visiting our website, we all have our own emails and contact as information as well. So they can you know

6:19depending on what the the question was they can share with we do have a platform that they can share information as well as a base camp. All our members have access to that. They can pose a question on that. It will go directly to to our board and to our secretary and they share with their members and and we answer questions that way as well. That's great. That's a great resource. And Danny, I got to I have to commend you and the board on just the growth of Camdar over the last you know since inception I've been a card carry member from day one you know by the 10 years just to see that growth and the awareness that is achieved just through everybody's hard work and dedication that's for sure you know and just you know that was on full display last year in Calgary at the Camdar conference at the 10-year anniversary that was amazing experience to be a part of I know Stacey enjoyed that too. We've had a chance in person and so in a lot of cool presentations and a lot of good relationship building there as well. We try to have our conferences

7:23very across the country try we try to share from you know BC and Newfoundland so and we'll speak about our next conference coming up as well with with having our conferences across the country that we we provide a base for people that can't get from here to there or can travel very far to be able to attend you know do attend our base conferences and and the provinces that they're that they're from with that being said we always have great attendance our industry partners always provide us with with fantastic information and and and speakers as well and we never have an issue with our 10-year same police. Great that's awesome. And this one's for you Steph like others in our MDR community you wear multiple hats simultaneously. Can you share just what role you perform with Camdar and the function it provides for our MDR community? I sure can so I am a provincial quality leader for MDR with Nova Scotia Health and in that position I focus on

8:28supporting standardizing quality improvements across multiple sites throughout our province in my develop policies communication tools support alignment with best practices and national standards so I am very proud to serve as a secretary with Camdar with the Camdar board of directors it's been very rewarding I decided to take on this role in in my term started June 2025 because I wanted to help just shape the MDR profession nationally and being on the board it has given me the chance to connect with leaders from all across Canada and be part of just a community that's passionate about improving reprocessing practices so it's been great great that's amazing Steph good for you and welcome to a board position thank you so D&E

9:32moment to go back to you here you've done it all in our MDR community from technician to supervisor to manager past president of mid-orans which I have become very acquainted with here in the last year current president of Camdar can you give any advice to our audience on how to successfully climb in advance in the MDR career ladder for sure my trade or my abuse everything on this taken advantage of opportunities and take risks I know that's how it all starts I was a tech for for quite some time years ago and certainly to I believe and I had an opportunity at one point to become a supervisor of an evening shift at the hall of facts and firmly a lot of people a lot of staff members you know they don't really let want to work evenings what not so I took that I took that advantage and took that position as supervisor and it's kind of worked my way there so and as well take advantage of any educational opportunities you have whether no matter how small

10:33they are or how many of you feel they are take advantage of something's offered take it when years ago through the hospital there was educational opportunities were were very very great and most of the education opportunities were within the facility so anytime an educational opportunity came available I took it and another another thing I always felt is I always came to work with a small on my face and some days it's it's hard to do that and I always tried to show up and be personable and approachable and I always treated everybody with dignity or respect because you don't know what people are going through and you don't you don't know who you could be standing next to you could be standing next to a potential person that could be interviewing you five or six years down the road so it's one you always want to treat people with dignity and their respect and take your opportunities push yourself they said like we I've always always thought there was more in it and I was not having never been staying out completely satisfied with what I'm doing every time

11:33I get an opportunity to feel you know I can move forward I'll do that as well this this is not when you're an MDR tech this is that you know in you feel like you're kind of in a rut everybody gets that way everybody feels that way it's at a point in time where you know I've done this I'm done it I'm done it over and over but there's always opportunities there's always something else I always tell I tell my kids this from day one they're usually every single person goes three through three career changes in their lifetime whether it be with the same company or a different company I just celebrated my 33rd year with no supposed to help and I'm very proud to say that congratulations thanks awesome well said Danny and it's it's your philosophy is working well for you definitely and I just want to congratulate you on another box that was checked off on the MDR career ladder recently you were named to the CSA Technical Committee for MDR congratulations on that man yeah it was so I was pretty happy pretty happy about that too I put in my application and and and it was accepted and I was very excited congratulations Danny exactly thanks

12:41Steph I do want to I do want to make sure this question is asked during this podcast review so I'm gonna throw it out there right now as a camd our board member where would you like to see the growth in the future something that I'd really love to see grow is public and professional awareness of just how vital MDR is to to safe patient care reprocessing standards require many audits and safety checks but not because something went wrong but because we're constantly working to prevent each quality measure it's a safeguard that ensures patients can go into surgery with confidence knowing that their instruments they're they're safe and sterile so I think when people both inside and outside of health care understand the precision the expertise and the

13:41accountability that goes into MDR it changes how they see the work it builds pride in the profession and it really reinforces how fundamental MDR is to patient safety and raising that awareness both publicly and across all health care disciplines is something I think we can continue to strengthen and grow together absolutely and for Danny as a president of Camder what do you see as the most urgent priority for advancing the MDR profession in the next few years well I think speaking with people across the country very and especially at our conference I think recruitment or attention is the biggest you know the biggest challenge for you know for our MDR people using using the knowledge of our of our MDR texts that are been around for quite some time is crucial especially training training new team members

14:44and educational wise as well and other challenges in conveying the value of education and mentoring and certification and supporting our national body and Camder out obviously the challenge we have there's still great potential for members for Camder we have multiple MDRs across the country and and there's still potential for for to increase our membership as well so that want you know that balance that we that we want to move forward in the education modules too Danny that Camder has available you know I've done a few of them myself they're you know well laid out you know they're really good we have we have great educational modules as well and and no one's coming up as well we have webinars that that are that are available quite frequently as well and you know our conferences and our provincial provincial comments for staff continuous quality improvement and staff engagement are vital in MDR what initiatives have you found in building a culture of accountability learning and pride among MDR professionals I think for me

15:51in engagement and continuous improvement really it starts with communication when when people feel informed valued and connected to the bigger purpose behind their work a stronger sense of of teamwork happens since MDR is is often described as the invisible part of of patient care creating visibility through communication is it's so important and when people see the difference their that their work makes accountability and quality it doesn't feel like tasks on a on a checklist it becomes something everyone wants to be part of it and really take pride in and I have to give you kudos to stuff for what you and your team have done already but you know you've basically you've toured Nova Scotia I think there's 17 MDRs MDRs in the province you know and I was there that day in at the VG when you toured you and your team and you know I just think

16:51it means a lot just a lot of people reach out through paper or through email electronic but you guys had the guts to come in and show up and face people head on you know what I mean and take that those questions and those that feedback so I mean like I said kudos to you and also for you and your team developing the provincial MDR newsletter that's awesome too. Thank you. Yes. I also for me I have been impacted so much both professionally and as a patient and so I just wanted to share just a personal story so less than two years ago I was unexpectedly diagnosed with breast cancer and required a single mastectomy and I'll never forget lying on that operating table before my surgery surrounded by the lights the the the cool air and the calm but focused energy of the surgical team I'm incredibly vulnerable but I also felt safe safe and that calm

17:59came from knowing that every instrument in that room had been cleaned inspected and sterilized by a team behind the scenes every check that happened by the MDR team long before I arrived contributed to to my safety and and ultimately my my surgical outcome and I'm a mother to when eight year olds my year old daughter I'm a wife a family member I'm a friend um you know what of a dog mom I'm a colleague and everything that happened to me as a patient impacted all those I share my life with so even if one indicator had been missing the calm confidence of the surgical team in in that room would have instantly changed and so that experience as a patient gave me such a deep personal appreciation for MDR and for the people who do this work every day that's love thank you for sharing yes thanks for sharing that story do you guys want to discuss

19:04some teas the came to our 2026 new flannel labrador a little bit sure okay our next conference the guys is uh October 22nd 24th 2026 and uh a new flannel labrador it's the first time came there will be it has been in no flannel labrador so we're quite looking forward to that our entertainment committee assures me that this will be second to none for entertainment-wise as we expect never I've never been myself so looking quite looking forward to uh to going there and spending some time or it's conferences at St. John's Convention Center and we're working on the details as far as the presenters and whatnot but if St. John's Convention Center October 22nd 24th 2026 and that it will be something spectacular when will people be able to register is it open register registration will be open very soon Stephanie might be able to elaborate on that as

20:05as our secretary so i'm not sure on the final um yeah final date for for registration but one thing that i always like to to note is that camdar isn't just for technicians um so membership and conference registration it's open to anyone involved in reprocessing so that includes infection control specialists period with nurse educators leaders supporting team members industry partners just really anyone whose work touches patient safety can benefit from the content of being uh a camdar member and attending the conference so it just it offers so much so i just like to to know that that that opportunities open to to more than just technicians so do you hear that listeners this for everybody let's go let's go to new plan um before we do close up though nanny um very nice to have a question for you um wearing both hats as an mdra manager and

21:07care president of camdar you have a unique view of the challenges facing frontline reprocessing teams in the broader national landscape what do you see as the most urgent priority for advancing the mdr profession in the next few years i very if i get a comment here i don't if i could put it in at some point i'll have to just wait maybe uh and ask you know any other comments or something yeah i just want to say like our members across their country are similar you know similar but unique and and challenged but i want to let everybody know that we know ultimately we all have the same goal standardizing processes that we can share and and share nationally with uh with with everyone we all we all do basically we all do the same thing but unique our own unique way but we're here camdar's here to help if anybody has any questions as far as standardizing and practices from coast to coast coast to coast from coast to coast well thank you

22:10so much Stephanie and danny i'm very much looking forward to new Finland i was actually just in new Finland danny read that no you because you said you've never been i was there for i packed this past year yeah yeah yeah so what you said Stephanie is all walks of like our profession a lot of people there too is we've introduced them into the sterilization field and they're like oh yeah there's so much growth in learning from each other so when we say that these conferences are open to everybody in the medical field they're open to everybody and i truly wish that we would see more of like our oh our staff and nursing attending these conferences as well because it would be so beneficial all across the table yeah yeah absolutely but you guys did great for your first one and we're going to be back again i promise you that we'll do live from camdar that's a good idea look at you guys are both awesome yeah yeah and like you said if anybody does want to get in contact with either yourself from danny or stuff or anybody else on the board everyone's email

23:15is accessible on the camdar website correct no so there's a generalized in the general that's right yeah because of general yes and then we will filter that depending on where the question which would need to go and connect you with the appropriate provincial advisor if needed and yeah okay and then all of our listeners to keep those ears and eyes open for early bird registration yes thank you all right thank you so much Stephanie and Danny thank you guys thank you to Danny and stuff taking the time from their busy schedules to share their passion for mdr with our community thank you just all of them for believing in us and supporting the bcc a podcast until next time keep fighting dirty

24:18thanks for listening to this episode of Beyond Clean Canada your source for mdr content education and inspiration if you enjoyed this conversation we'd love to hear from you on the bcc a linked in or facebook page or anywhere podcasts are heard make sure to give us a five-star rating on your favorite app and until we talk again keep fighting dirty