This episode uses the baby-elephant metaphor to reveal four deeply held beliefs that trap health care operations—especially Sterile Processing Departments—in dysfunction: that reactivity is inevitable, SPD is merely a cost center, the OR will never be satisfied, and "we're doing the best we can".

Dr. Jake Tayler Jacobs explains where these beliefs come from, how they damage finances and relationships, and points to proactive operating systems and evidence-based change that can break the chains and restore reliability, revenue, and partnership.