Jake Tayler Jacobs

Jacobs says SPD department managers should reach the brown belt level of the SIPS development track.

“Brown Belt is the level that people should be at to manage a department”

Bred To Lead: Bonus: The Next Revolution in Surgery Is Happening Outside the OR (Oct 23, 2026) · Listen from 1:00:12

Jacobs argues that consultants and new technology fail because they do not address underlying workforce problems.

“Temporary fixes do not change permanent damage. You can't put new wood over a termite-infected Foundation”

Bred To Lead: Bonus: The Next Revolution in Surgery Is Happening Outside the OR (Oct 23, 2026) · Listen from 44:19

Jacobs argues that without a career pathway, workers turn on their current workplace.

“If you don't give people something to progress to, they begin to cannibalize where they are”

Bred To Lead: Bonus: The Next Revolution in Surgery Is Happening Outside the OR (Oct 23, 2026) · Listen from 23:09

Jacobs says more than 76% of SPD managers and leaders assessed performed at an entry-level technician level.

“more than 76%. of the managers and leaders that run your departments are operating at a tech one level”

Bred To Lead: Bonus: The Next Revolution in Surgery Is Happening Outside the OR (Oct 23, 2026) · Listen from 37:36

Jacobs reports that most of 125 assessed SPD leaders had never been verified despite perfect competency scores.

“95 of the 125 have never been verified before, but all 125 had perfect competency scores”

Bred To Lead: Bonus: The Next Revolution in Surgery Is Happening Outside the OR (Oct 23, 2026) · Listen from 40:49

Jacobs claims that by 2017, 76% of hospitals had serious SPD-related accreditation findings.

“But 2017, it was 76% of hospitals had hospital level findings that could shut the hospital down”

Bred To Lead: Bonus: The Next Revolution in Surgery Is Happening Outside the OR (Oct 23, 2026) · Listen from 28:13

Jacobs states that the Joint Commission first considered sterile processing in 2009.

“2009 was the first year that Joint Commission ever even considered sterile processing”

Bred To Lead: Bonus: The Next Revolution in Surgery Is Happening Outside the OR (Oct 23, 2026) · Listen from 27:21

Jacobs predicts that robotics and automation will drive another evolution in sterile processing.

“Robotics are coming. Automation is coming. So that means sterile processing again is going to see another evolution”

Bred To Lead: Bonus: The Next Revolution in Surgery Is Happening Outside the OR (Oct 23, 2026) · Listen from 1:04:05

Jacobs argues that hospitals with instrument tracking systems have the same problems as those without, so workforce development is the real solution.

“But those that have an instrument tracking system, they're still having the same problems that those that don't”

Bred To Lead: Bonus: The Next Revolution in Surgery Is Happening Outside the OR (Oct 23, 2026) · Listen from 54:33

Jacobs reports that 99.5% of surveyed perioperative leaders said SPD was a black box to them.

“99.5% of Periop leaders said that they were blind to SPD. It was a black box coming in, black box coming out”

Bred To Lead: Bonus: The Next Revolution in Surgery Is Happening Outside the OR (Oct 23, 2026) · Listen from 41:53

Jacobs contends that modern hospital surgery was shaped by structures returning soldiers brought from the battlefield after World War II.

“after World War II, all these men came with all these ideas of structure from the battlefield and brought it to health care”

Bred To Lead: Bonus: The Next Revolution in Surgery Is Happening Outside the OR (Oct 23, 2026) · Listen from 16:39

Jacobs argues that temporary staffing does not solve sterile processing problems.

“Temporary staff and staffing is not the solution”

Bred To Lead: Bonus: The Next Revolution in Surgery Is Happening Outside the OR (Oct 23, 2026) · Listen from 5:56