Why opt for a Central Service Technician as a career?

Central Service Technician

A central service technician usually is associated with the sterile processing departments in hospitals or other healthcare/medical facilities. These departments are responsible for coordinating and collaborating on the overall cleaning, decontamination, dispensing assembly, and dispatching of all surgical equipment and supplies and other aspects of patients’ care.

The central service professional pursues a wide range of Essential functions that include providing integrity and sterility of products and services while working with the operating room staff. In addition, central service technicians report the defective equipment to the supervisor or staff and assist in preparing patients in the pre-op and post-op areas. In this article, you will explore the roles of a central service technician, sterile processing technician certificate program, and details about the journey to becoming one.

Broader Skillset/ Role of the Central Service Technician/ Job Openings

• • Sterile Supplies: The work of a sterile processing technician includes assembling sets as per specification, checking the supplies and their records, Maintaining the department inventory, organizing, restocking, and preparing the supplies for surgery.
  • Customer Service: Provide assistance to resolve issues and customer support for interdepartmental needs, handle the specimen issue and maintain excellent lab protocol.
  • Emergency: Maintain adequate equipment inventory to combat emergencies, deliver the supplies and equipment on time, and stock all the medical carts with vital delivery materials for the emergency area.
  • Surgery: Process and sterilize the required instruments, review the surgery schedule, and monitor the instrumental details.
  • Decontamination Area: collect dirty supplies, deliver them to the decontamination room, recover the e- soiled equipment, and perform biochemical monitoring compatible with the quality assurance return.
  • Medical Equipment: Sterilise and assemble the surgical instruments, and monitor the chemical and biological wash solutions in decontaminating them.
  • Sterrad: Assemble, and sterilize the equipment using Sterrad and steam sterilizer protocols, including machines, monitor the spores for quality control, and maintain all the supplies and environments according to the specifications.
  • IV: Clean and maintain the hospital equipment such as IV pumps, feeding pumps, PCA machines, hypothermia machines, and K-pads. Conduct the inventory of medical devices.

Why opt for a Central Service Professional as a career?

The onset of COVID-19 has led to an increase in the healthcare workforce to ~20% and is expected to increase manifold. COVID has opened the people’s and nation’s eyes to improve the quality of healthcare and the associated workforce.

The scope of central service technician jobs has experienced massive growth and is predicted to grow exponentially. As a result, the demand for sterile processing technician schools has risen to 17%. It is a beneficial option for students venturing into the professional world and an excellent career. Sterile processing is a well-paying, demanding career in the healthcare industry.

There are ~40000 jobs opening annually in this field in the US with an entry-level wage of $15 per hour. Post-Pandemic, the demand for Central Service Technicians is assuredly bound to increase exponentially.

Central service technician jobs might seem to be a piece of cake, but indeed is a tedious team sport that requires stamina, precision, technical know-how, accuracy, and speed. You should certainly consider central professional services as your career as the job of Central Service Technician has:

• • • An excellent career outlook: Projected growth rate due to COVID ~17%
    • An Earning good potential: Top earners earning ~56000$ and average salary ~$40000
    • Opportunities to travel: Short term contract based services with live-out allowances
    • Opportunities for advancements: With expertise and experience, an individual will be able to climb the career ladder at a rapid pace to become a sterile processing supervisor and later a sterile processing manager with an average salary of $68227.
    • Flexible Scheduling: Mostly in large hospitals, central sterile departments are open 24/7, and the job can be scheduled on individuals’ preferences.
    • Job gratification: The sterile central department is the hospital’s heart and is responsible for restricting the line between life and death.
    • No job loss risks: As the number of diseases and patients in the healthcare sector is constantly on the rise, the healthcare facilities cannot afford to lay off the Central service workers. Therefore Central service technicians have secured jobs.
    • Work environment: As hospitals, outpatient care centers, clinics of physicians, ambulatory surgical centers, and healthcare facilities are the primary areas of employment for central service technicians, a constantly changing, fast-paced, and team-based work spirit is experienced.

Future Prospects

If you are interested in being a part of the healthcare industry, are a highly meticulous and detail-oriented person, and are passionate about contributing to millions of lives being at the backdrop of the industry, providing assistance, and rendering mission-critical services: central service technician training is the first step towards it. Certified training is crucial for attaining the required knowledge. It will equip you with hands-on experience in Disinfection of Surgical instruments, sterilization, preparation, transport inventory management, Infection Prevention, Tools for cleaning, Decontamination, etc.

One of Philadelphia’s finest central service technician schools is Philadelphia Technician Training Institute. It trains you to be a proficient worker and assists in Job Application Skills like resume writing, communication skills, and support through interviewing processes. In addition, it provides excellent career services to enable the students to land desired roles/jobs.

With great externships and opportunities due to the significant employment relationship and database, Philadelphia Technician Training Institute is among the top-performing central service technician schools in Philadelphia. It also focuses on post-program support for all its students.

Concluding Notes

The profession of Central service technician is in high demand, and expectations are that it will be an emerging profession that to increase as the number of surgeries increases. So, here is a program

for how you can get a central service technician certification. There is a massive demand for central service technicians in healthcare settings with tremendous technological advancements in devices, equipment, medical supplies, and instruments. It is an undoubtedly beneficial option for students venturing out into the professional world and an excellent career for individuals with an interest and inclination toward the medical industry. Over and above, Sterile processing is a well-paying, demanding career in the healthcare industry.

Read more:

• What are the responsibilities of a central sterile processing technician?
• Things about sterile services you didn’t know of!
• How Much Does a Sterile Processing Technician Make?