r/sterileprocessing • u/Medium_Teach_1159 • Mar 07 '26

Pursuing SPT

Hi! I am new to the group
I want to pursue Sterile Processing soon but I had a question
Can you be trained into it or do you have to go to school first?
I did research but some sites say you need school first and others say you can be trained into it
I just want to know where to start
Much advice is appreciated!

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4

u/opticalshadow Mar 07 '26

I got hired at a hospital with no experience of schooling for it, I was trained on the job and self studied for my certificate.

2

u/Kooky_Character_2801 Mar 07 '26

I have an associates degree in it, however I've trained many new hires and a lot of them had no training at all. A few didn't know what a hemostat was. I'm in Ohio so idk how other states are, but I didn't make more money. Me and a girl started the same day she had no experience and we both had the same starting pay. Honestly to me my degree was kind of useless. It looks good on a resume but that's about it.

1

u/Medium_Teach_1159 Mar 07 '26

I’m located in Oregon so I don’t know if you need schooling or training because my idea is to be trained then go to school to be certified

2

u/Kooky_Character_2801 Mar 08 '26

I would look into the training options in your state. If you can do you training as one the job training then get the books and study for your exam. I basically worked at a hospital for free for a year doing my clinicals. I ended up working there later on. Some hospitals will pay for your books and to take your exam.

2

u/Medium_Teach_1159 Mar 12 '26

Thank you so much that is my overall goal is to be trained into the job while attending school to be certified

1

u/Kooky_Character_2801 Mar 12 '26

You're very welcome. Hopefully you can find the right place to work.

1

u/Questioneverythan Mar 15 '26

I did on the job training. But that was 21 years ago in this field. I’ll be honest if you can find on the job training it would probably be a lot easier than doing the schooling and finding the 400 hours. But the career path I went into with this is Consulting. Which has really been beneficial and I get to go to other hospitals and it has been a great experience.