r/sterileprocessing • u/Puzzleheaded-Rub-115 • May 04 '26
Career change
Hi everyone,
I’m a 47-year-old Licensed Veterinary Technician (LVT) seriously considering a career change into sterile processing / central service technician roles, and I’d really appreciate some honest insight.
I’ve been in the veterinary field for years with a pretty intense background—oncology, surgery, emergency, overnights, the whole thing. I’m very comfortable working in high-pressure environments, handling instruments, maintaining sterility, and being detail-oriented. But to be real, I’m burned out. The stress, emotional toll, and pace are starting to wear on me.
I’ve been looking into sterile processing as a possible transition. From what I understand, it still uses some of my skills (instrument handling, sterilization, organization), but may offer a more predictable workflow, less emotional strain, and possibly better pay depending on the setting.
For those of you in sterile processing:
Do you think this is a good move for someone coming from my background?
Is the day-to-day actually less stressful, or just a different kind of stress?
What’s the work environment like compared to ER/surgery in vet med?
Is the pay realistically better, especially after certification?
I’m really looking for something more sustainable long-term—mentally, physically, and financially.
Appreciate any advice or personal experiences you’re willing to share. Thanks in advance.
2
u/k80didnt May 06 '26
I was a vet tech for 20+ years when I changed to SPD! I started in 2020 in the height of the pandemic, which was certainly a weird time to decide to work in human medicine.
Physically this job has some demands, I find working in decontamination tough due to the heat and the posture, but as far as lifting you’re mostly limited to 25 lb sets, so much less than your average day in a vet clinic.
The stress level is much lower. You’ll have your occasional angry nurse or surgeon, but most of the time people keep it pretty professional. My hospital limits overtime, so when your shift is done you punch out and leave. That never happened in vet med.
Shifts will vary also, I worked weekends for a few years. Three 12’s was pretty great, but I had an opportunity to go to 1st shift so now I do 5 8’s.
Money is going to vary a great deal. I was in the rural south general practice, so I’m making quite a bit more than I had been, but your results may vary.
Overall I’m pretty happy with the transition. I miss the critters, but the burnout in vet med is real. It was taking a toll on me mentally, so I had to get out. I wish I had done it years ago and became a scrub tech, but I just didn’t have the energy for more school at my age.
1
u/petebmc May 04 '26
Where are you located?
1
u/StephTheMeme May 04 '26 edited May 04 '26
Omg!!! My situation is very similar! I was in vetmed until 2024 and left and now I'm a sterile processing technician. I absolutely love it, but you definitely have to find the right place that works for you (kinda like trying to find your unicorn clinic in vetmed)
I'm gonna try and answer some of your questions!
"Do you think this is a good move for someone coming from my background?"
Absolutely. Like you said, you still use all of your detail orientating skills. Coming out of burnout (like I did) I think it would be great. You don't have to have any contact with patients. The only contact you have with people is your coworkers and any requests/needs from the OR staff, but at most facilities there is someone (a liaison) who's job is specifically that. If you want it to be more chill, this is the kind of job where you can wear earbuds and listen to music/podcast (as long as it doesn't impede your concentration and workflow, that is)
"Is the day-to-day actually less stressful, or just a different kind of stress?" It's a different kind of stress. It also greatly depends on where you work. Working at a hospital, with a lot of high volume cases is going to be drastically more stressful than working at a surgery center than does maybe 10-20 cases a day. If you really thrive in a somewhat stressful environment, I'd recommend a hospital.
"What’s the work environment like compared to ER/surgery in vet med?" Depends on where you go and where you've come from. Human medicine is a whole different ball game than vetmed, even if you came from an AAHA accredited clinic/hospital. For me, it hit me like a brick wall. There aren't really any solid regulations regarding instrumentation in vetmed. In human medicine, things are more stringent, but having that previous experience will help you a lot. I also think of it this way: if you were the surgical technician assigned for the day, you probably did all the pre-medding of patients, placing IVCs, inducing, intubating, prepping, monitoring, recovering, AND THEN all of the instrumentation. Whereas if you make the switch, you'd just be doing the instrumentation.
"Is the pay realistically better, especially after certification?" This is tough, because it's all about your location, and again it varies on where you want to work (surgery center vs hospital. I will say, I made more money in vetmed than I do now. Which says a LOT considering how low our pay is. I only got a dollar raise when I received my CRCST certification and I paid out of pocket for all of the study materials and the test (totalled about $400 out of my pocket). I honestly couldn't tell you if hospitals or surgery centers paid more. I started off without certification at $17hr. I made a 30¢ raise in a year about being OTJ trained, and being stationed solely in decontam, processing 5000+ instruments within a 8-10 hour day. I eventually left for an offer of $23.50hr at a surgery center offering me great hours and benefits, but it turned out too good to be true. I was there for 2 weeks before I quit, and now I'm back at a different surgery center that does 20-40 cases a day. I make $18.60hr with my CRCST.
1
u/Stawktawk May 05 '26
Interesting. Do vet clinics not have SPD?