What are the responsibilities of a central sterile processing technician?

Responsibility of the Central Service Technician

• Collection of used and contaminated equipment or instruments/ supplies.
• Sorting of the collected equipment and supplies and initiating decontamination.
• Cleaning the supplies manually.
• Maintaining the cleaned components by packing them for sterilization.
• Maintaining the inventory.
• Monitoring the conditions and examining the supplies.
• Testing and reposting as a part of the diagnosis.
• Organizing, wrapping, and preparing the equipment for reuse for medical procedures.
• Delivery of components (supplies) for examinations, Medical procedures, and surgeries.
• Controlling the inventory records, reordering supplies whenever necessary, and checking expiration dates.

Broader Skillset- Departmental Works

• Customer Service: Providing assistance to resolve issues. Provide customer support for organizational, interdepartmental needs. Handling any specimen issue and maintaining excellent lab protocol.
• Emergency: Maintaining an adequate inventory of equipment. Combating emergencies, delivering the supplies and equipment on time, stocking all the medical carts with vital delivery materials for emergency use.
• Surgery: Sterilizing and processing the precise list of required instruments for the surgery in question, reviewing the schedule of the surgeries. And monitoring the details of the particular instruments, keeping a count before and after the surgery to avoid any mishap.
• Decontamination Area: Collection of dirty supplies and delivering them to the decontamination room. Recovering the e- soiled equipment. Performing biochemical capacity monitoring in line with the quality assurance return.
• Medical Equipment: Sterilising, organizing, and assembling the surgical equipment, to monitor the chemical, biochemical and biological solutions in decontaminating the same
• Sterrad: Assembling and sterilizing the equipment. Using Sterrad and steam sterilizer protocols that include machines that monitor the spores for quality control. Maintaining all the supplies, apparatus, and environments compatible with the specifications.
• IV: Cleaning and maintaining the medical equipment such as IV pumps, other pumps, hypothermia machines, PCA machines, and K-pads.
• Maintaining the inventory records of medical devices.

Training for becoming a central sterile processing technician to be a part of the sterile processing department in the healthcare industry often includes a clinical practicum. A year of hands-on training like a central sterile processing technician certificate program in the US. Or a sterile processing technician school in PA is a must for all individuals new to a sterile processing department.

Future Prospects

With the occurrence of COVID-19, there is an increased demand for services in the healthcare sector. It has led to a sudden surge in the employment of the healthcare workforce to ~20%.

The scope of job opportunities increases with projections of an increase in the workforce count to increase to 45% by 2026. COVID has opened a different perspective in the peoples’ and nation’s eyes. It is high time to improve the quality of healthcare and the associated workforce.

It is a beneficial career path for students to step out in the professional world. It is a great career for individuals with an interest and inclination towards saving lives in the medical industry. Central Sterile Processing Technician profile is a highly respected, paying, and demanding career.

As a part of the medical industry, your responsibility is crucial to saving the lives of millions. You need to be a highly meticulous, detail-oriented person, willing to work in the backdrop of the healthcare industry. Providing required assistance, mission-critical services will be a part of your Central Sterile Processing Technician career.

Certifications acquired after training will help you achieve an edge in industrial standards. Certified training will provide you with hands-on training and required industry knowledge. You will be trained to handle the processes that are integral to the central service department.

Philadelphia Technician Training Institute is one of the best central sterile processing technician schools that offers sterilization technician training in Philadelphia. Our school offers multiple externship opportunities due to numerous industrial connections. At PTTI, we train you to become a proficient industrial worker and help you develop desired soft skills.

We also provide our students with post-program support. We assist in Job Application Skills like externship opportunities, career guidance, resume writing, communication skills, and support in the interviewing processes. We provide career guidance and services to enable our students to land desired roles/jobs and build their aspirations.

Concluding Notes

With the increase in the number of surgical cases, Central service technicians are in high demand. With a rise in technological advancements in medical facilities, devices, apparatus and equipment, medical supplies, and instruments. Central service technicians play a vital role in every health care setup.

This field has massive scope for development with increased job demand.  It is a beneficial option for students navigating through various professional aspirations.

Thus, if you are an individual with an inclination towards serving in potential areas of the medical industry. Then a sterile processing technician is the right fit for you. Overall, Sterile processing is surely a well-paying, highly demanding job in the healthcare industry.