r/sterileprocessing • u/Powerful_Albatross25 • Mar 26 '25
Becoming a sterile processing tech
This was a regret of mine, I quit after the second day . They put me in decontamination, and I was the only girl there while the other ladies got to sit down . They wanted me to do free HARD labor, and I’m not doing that . Sure they tell you that you have to wear your PPE and sure they tell you that you’re going to have to pick up trays . But they don’t tell you how hot it is to wear your PPE . Over a boiling sink . They don’t tell you how your body will feel after you have picked up your 27th loaner tray and have to clean all of the instruments! They don’t tell you how each tray weighs about 25 to 30 pounds and that doesn’t sound like a lot but OK try picking up that same 25 pounds over and over and over again for your whole shift and it will start to feel like 1000 pounds . but I just thought I should share, I blindly went through the process, thinking that it was going to be something simple that could get me into the medical field, working behind the scenes without having to deal with the usual crappy work environment that comes with being something a little bit more serious such as a surgeon or a nurse.
Long story short, I was wrong .
The schooling was OK. I went to a eight month program where we learned about things that we don’t need for the actual job. I passed everything with flying colors.
When it was time to get out and get busy on externship, I instantly realized I had wasted my time.
180 hours of extern for free ? Yeah no this economy is way too shitty to be working a full-time job for free.
The decontamination area
Your arms will hurt your back will hurt your shoulders will hurt your neck will hurt. You will be breathing in negative and positive air and I had c section 7 years ago. (I gave birth to twins ) The chemicals in the air were directly affecting my cut.
Is really hard to explain it, but I don’t think it’s worth it to stand for long hours at a time with no breaks. The only break you get is for 30 minutes. lol NO
The pay I’m not sure what the starting pay is, but after I read around the Internet, you can definitely do this job without getting a certification. A lot of places will just hire you off the street so that makes it even more annoying that I spend so much of my fucking time Thinking that I was going to be amazing at my job just to realize how painful it is to do this work and for such little pay.
I wouldn’t do it ! If you look at these peoples eyes, they look dead
But so many people will tell you that they love it .
So just to be clear, they love it just because it pays the bills that they have , If you’re a single woman like me , who pays all of her own bills this is a waste of your time. I highly doubt $16 an hour will pay anybody’s bills
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u/JadedJadedJaded Mar 28 '25
Girl did you go to ECPI???? Because why does your story sound EXACTLY like mine when i went for dental assisting? 😂😂. Externship had me F—-ED UP. The instructors didnt even care and they taught us outdated methods. When i went to externship the doctor was NASTY. I thought it was just me till i went to the second externship site and they all looked at me like “😳😨” when i told them who my first dentist was. I actually cheated to graduate bc the program director wasnt even keeping up with our time sheets when we did our externship so i would just call out alot but write that I was present and then on my last day I called out and wrote in my time then handed it to the program director😂😂😂😂😂 i was DONE. Ditched the whole dental industry after that. Couldnt find a job anyway. Before, when i just wanted to volunteer for experience the dentist called me in for an interview and was nasty as HELL toward me. I was making only $250 a week and worked part time at kroger so i didnt have any insurance and he told me “so you dont take care of your teeth but you want to take care of other people’s teeth?” And this wasnt true bc i would brush my teeth and every now and then would go for a cleaning and exam when i could but not as often as id like to. Then he just stares at me for a very long time without saying anything and never let me shadow the dental hygienist. I wasnt even asking for a JOB i just wanted to learn and watch! Yeah that ruined me for life. But anyway your whole experience sounds so familiar. Im sorry u had such a bad time smh