Community Closeups

Abstract

An expert on sterilization issues, Rose Seavey is president and chief executive officer of Seavey Healthcare Consulting, which she runs with her husband in Arvada, CO. She is the stepmother of three and grandmother of seven.How and why did you decide on this profession?I started in the operating room (OR) as a scrub technician and wanted to do more to help patients, so I went back to school to be a nurse. After many years of working in the OR, I realized that the relationship between OR and sterile processing was less than ideal. I decided to manage sterile processing and work on that relationship.Before joining the medical technology field, what did you do for a living?I've been in healthcare my entire life. I am from Cincinnati and came from a very poor family. There was a nursing shortage and the city of Cincinnati offered a very attractive scholarship for their licensed practical nurse program, and so I took advantage of an opportunity where I knew I could make a difference.What's been the proudest moment in your career?The days that stand out for me are the day I found out that my department won the Healthcare Purchasing News Department of the Year award, the day I was elected as president of the American Society of Healthcare Sterile Processing Professionals, and when I was elected to the Board of Directors of the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses.What do you think is the biggest problem in the sterilization field today?I truly believe it is the lack of respect for the amount of knowledge that those who reprocess surgical instruments must know.What is the best career advice you ever got?You can't continue to grow on past accomplishments.If you could change one thing about your job, what would it be?Since I am an independent consultant, I sometimes wish I could be in two places at once. Many times I have to turn down offers because I have already committed myself to something else.If you were not in the medical technology field, what profession would you like to work in and why?In my next life I would be a florist or a professional swimmer.What's one thing about you that others might be surprised to learn?I travel a lot, and the one thing from home that I always bring is my pillow. It helps me to sleep better. My pillow has been to more countries than most people!What's your philosophy toward life?Do what you love! Make a name for yourself! Don't do the minimum.Who's your hero and why?Vivian Watson, an OR nurse and the AORN ombudsman. She has an inspiring story of how she overcame the hardship of having a cleft lip deformity. She put herself through nursing school and worked to pay for the surgical procedure to remove the deformity. She inspires me every time I see her.