Burnout is no longer an emerging issue in Australian healthcare — it is a daily reality, particularly for clinicians working in sterile services departments and operating theatres. These environments demand precision, speed and constant vigilance, often under conditions of chronic understaffing and rising surgical demand.
| Measure | Percentage (%) | Source |
| Healthcare workers reporting burnout | 80-84% | Mental Health Australia annual survey (Cannelevate) |
| Clinicians reporting burnout or overload | 98% | Nuance/HIMSS survey (Hospital Health) |
| Staff absences related to burnout | 68% | Australian burnout data (Brightstar Nursing Australia) |
| Projected nursing shortage by 2030 | 123,000 deficit | Burnout impact analysis (Brightstar Nursing Australia) |
These figures show burnout is not isolated but widespread and persistent, with impacts on staffing, retention and wellbeing.
For theatre nurses and sterile services technicians, the pressure is cumulative. Long shifts, frequent overtime, last-minute list changes and the constant risk of delays or errors take a real toll. Many clinicians tell us it’s not the clinical care that exhausts them — it’s the systems that make that care harder than it needs to be.
The Hidden Load of Manual Processes
In many hospitals, instrument tracking is still heavily manual, relying on paper records, whiteboards or disconnected systems. When an instrument set is missing or incomplete, clinicians are left to investigate — often during already stretched shifts.
For sterile services staff, this means time spent tracing trays, reconciling documentation or responding to audit requests instead of focusing on quality reprocessing. For theatre nurses, it often shows up as delayed lists, heightened tension and the emotional labour of managing patient expectations when plans change.
Over time, this constant “background stress” contributes directly to burnout.
How We Help Reduce That Pressure
Across Australia and New Zealand, hospitals use our digital instrument tracking system, MaQS (Management and Quality System), to reduce this everyday strain. Our solution provides real-time visibility of surgical instruments across the entire lifecycle — from decontamination and assembly through sterilisation, storage and use in theatre.
Instrument tracking systems replace manual, paper-based processes with automated scanning and tracking, allowing sterile services technicians and theatre staff to quickly locate, verify and manage surgical sets. Advocates say this technology can significantly reduce cognitive load, time pressure and repetitive administrative tasks — all contributors to burnout.
| Task | Manual Process | With Digital Tracking |
| Instrument set tracing | 10-20 mins per set | <2 mins |
| Missing instrument investigations | Up to 60 mins per incident | Real-time visibility |
| Documentation & audits | Manual, retrospective | Automated, real time |
| Recall management | Labour intensive | Immediate Identification |
Source: Australian hospital workflow audits and industry reporting
Supporting Safer, More Sustainable Work
Operating theatres and SSDs are high-risk environments where fatigue increases the likelihood of error. By reducing avoidable tasks and improving reliability, digital instrument tracking helps lower cognitive load — particularly during peak demand, emergencies or staffing shortfalls.
Our system is also used to support onboarding and training, providing clearer workflows for new staff and reducing reliance on informal knowledge held by a small number of experienced clinicians — an important factor in teams facing high turnover.
Not a Cure-All – But Part of the Solution
We know technology alone will not fix burnout. Safe staffing levels, supportive leadership and realistic workloads remain essential.
However, when digital systems are designed around clinical reality and implemented thoughtfully, they can meaningfully reduce the daily frustrations that push people toward exhaustion and attrition.
By streamlining workflows and improving transparency between sterile services and theatres, we’re proud to support teams across Australia and New Zealand to work more safely, more calmly and more sustainably.