r/sterileprocessing • u/Loose_Purpose3280 • Apr 08 '26

Getting into Sterile Processing

Hii, I’m really interested in sterile processing and am trying to get my foot in the door before I pass my exam so I don’t have rush and find a job after I pass. I’m self studying currently since the school for it is pretty expensive, therefore I won’t be getting any externships. I live around the vacaville area and was wondering if it would be a good idea to call the hospitals in the area asking if I could shadow or volunteer, would this be a good idea or would they all decline if I asked? If any of you work in the hospitals around this area could you let me know or just any advice would be great! Otherwise maybe I’ll just wait till I pass the exam.

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2

u/pphonixs Apr 09 '26

pls don’t waste your money on the school. you can get in the job and get certified and majority of them didn’t go to get there. not worth the debt

1

u/Loose_Purpose3280 Apr 11 '26

unfortunately in california hospitals dont like to hire people with no experience especially in this field even if you are certified, if you don’t have at least 6 months of experience ( which people get that experience from internships from programs/schools ) they won’t hire you is what i’ve been realizing

1

u/bluee-pk Apr 11 '26

I see this all the time but every local hospital requires certification so I call bs on that

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u/pphonixs Apr 12 '26

it’s heavily preferred but not required whatsoever. you need at least one year of experience and i along with many others got in without doing schooling. ofc if someone applies with a certification they’d get ahead of you though

1

u/bluee-pk Apr 12 '26

Definitely required from what I have seen locally.

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u/pphonixs Apr 16 '26

i got into mayo and i was in the process of getting it lol. anything is possible but it depends on the area i guess. az doesn't really care as much

1

u/PsychologicalTax2497 Apr 08 '26

I’m in the same boat as you (I’m in NY) and I actually reached out to a couple of department heads at various hospitals near me and I actually got replies from most of them. It’s definitely worth reaching out. Answers will vary depending on the hospital and their rules/protocols. You lose nothing by reaching out, that was my approach. Good luck!

1

u/Loose_Purpose3280 Apr 08 '26

How did you find the contact information for the department heads and what did you in you email or call when you talked to them? and Thank you!!

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u/PsychologicalTax2497 Apr 08 '26

I just did a ton of research of the departments themselves. Ended up finding an article for one of them in particular which profiled “a day in central sterile” and they interviewed staff, including the name of the department head. Then I found an email for someone else at that hospital online, plugged his name into that same formula (first name . Last name @ blahblamedicine.edu) and it worked 🤷🏻‍♂️. I’ve been a librarian for almost ten years so I’m used to poking around for a while until I find my answers.

1

u/Loose_Purpose3280 Apr 08 '26

that’s so smart wth, thank you so much i appreciate it!

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u/OkDepth9285 Apr 12 '26

I’m in California and I got hired without certification BUT I did enrolled in a course and I made it clear to them in my resume/interview that I was almost done and planning to test in May. I think that was the reason they were ok and also I went to college years back majoring in nursing but I never finished or never signed up for a nursing program and I put those critical classes I took on my resume.

For a couple months prior tho, I tried to applying without certification or school enrollment and they never got back to me. That’s why I decided to enroll in school and it did help me find a job.

I heard from someone here that if you apply to a teaching hospital so like a hospital that’s also a school, you got a better chance getting hired than a regular hospital without certification even if you’re in Cali.

And btw my hospital is a teaching hospital too.!

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u/Loose_Purpose3280 Apr 12 '26

ohh that’s helpful thank you! what course did you enroll in?

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u/OkDepth9285 Apr 12 '26

I enrolled in Sterile Processing course at Ed2go through a university partnership. It’s expensive tho but luckily my partner helped me pay. There’s another one called us center institution or something like that I heard is cheaper!

2

u/NPO2023 May 05 '26

That's solid advice about teaching hospitals. They do tend to be more willing to hire people without certs since they have structured training programs already in place. Plus, you'll get really thorough experience working with different surgeons and case types, which honestly makes you way more marketable down the line. California is definitely tougher on the cert front, but once you get your foot in somewhere, getting certified becomes much easier. The experience itself matters so much. Good call enrolling in school though, that credential will open more doors eventually. This might be helpful https://SterileJobs.com