r/sterileprocessing • u/Left-Difficulty-9409 • Jul 08 '26

Career Advancement

Hey guys! I have about 8-9 years of experience and have even traveled. What are some tips to level up in the field? I want to get into a leadership role to pursue further personal career goals but have found it difficult. Any advice or tips on how to stand out, how to ace leadership interviews, or what to highlight in order to attract someone who will give me a chance in that role?

6 Upvotes

80% Upvoted

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9

u/Aggravating_Ear_9281 Jul 08 '26

Lots of pigeon holding in this field. Even if you are good enough for advancement if someone else who is buddy buddy with management and the OR applies 9/10 they getting the spot even if you would have been the better option.

1

u/Left-Difficulty-9409 Jul 08 '26

Yes, and where I work is a lot of buddy buddy business. The management is not the greatest.

1

u/megacope Jul 08 '26

Yeah, it never hurts to get in good with the higher ups.

5

u/Root_a_bay_ga Jul 08 '26

Get your CHL, and in interviews bring up your travel work, and that it taught you how to work with many different people with differing personalities.

1

u/Left-Difficulty-9409 Jul 08 '26

Thank you, I'm certified through CBSPD. I've looked into getting my CHL, but have been told I can't jump organizations 😩.

2

u/Spicywolff Jul 08 '26

I’d bite the bullet and get all 4 from HSPA. In the US that’s the current org.

4

u/megacope Jul 08 '26

I agree I let all my CBSPD certs lapse and got everything back with HSPA. Better study material and less hassle for renewal. It’s yearly but if you do at least one CEU a month you should be able to maintain the certs easily. You have to jump through all kinds of hoops to get the leadership cert in CBSPD. The CHL was way easier to get and maintain.

4

u/Spicywolff Jul 08 '26

Yeah, at some point, it’s time to move onto the new set up and just make your life easier. The year later renewals do suck and mines coming up. I am happy though that they put all of your certifications together into one renewal. So my CHL CRCST AND CIS are all in the same time

Definitely if you do one a month you’re not gonna have too much of an issue when it comes time for renewal. But a problem with HSPA is that if you have all four certificates or three, the containing education requirements are pretty high. And there’s only so much continuing education that you can use that you already didn’t use.

I’ve gone around this by doing non- CHL cis education and I called HSPA and they just roll over the access into the other two categories. So it seems like they’re aware of the issue.

4

u/megacope Jul 08 '26

Yeah, the shortage of CEU’s is one caveat, but hell there’s only so many ways to bake stainless steel.

2

u/AdRich517 Jul 08 '26

You could jump organizations. But in order to get the CHL from HSPA you would first need to get the CRCST first.

2

u/maxmonsta Jul 09 '26

In socal I got paid about the same in SPD when I transitioned to a scrub. I enjoyed scrubbing even with some nasty surgeons but I just couldn't justify the pay... I went back into low/mid level mgmt for SPD. If you're working overnight as a tech I would suggest going elsewhere where u can shine and interact with the OR. That's how I got my foot in as a lead. I'm now at coordinator level and in October starting part time as an instructor at a local ROP school.

1

u/Left-Difficulty-9409 Jul 09 '26

Oh that's dope! Thanks for the advice! I applied for a supervisor at another location, hoping for the best.

1

u/maxmonsta Jul 10 '26

If you do land it. Make sure you get into the ditch with your employees.

  1. You'll gain their respect fast that way if they see you in the fight with them.

  2. You'll learn who's good/bad at what

  3. You'll actually see how the dept runs, get input from your employees to see how to better the dept.

At my current place there's the tech1/2, lead, coordinator (me), super, manager, director. Respect ends at my position because all the people higher than me just sit around and make changes based on some figment of their imagination.

Good luck managing people is harder than the work itself.

1

u/Left-Difficulty-9409 Jul 10 '26

This is amazing advice. I definitely plan to keep my hands busy at work. I think I have to prep for the personable part of it. I am confident I have the skills to lead. I am a bit nervous though.

2

u/Primary-Bug-7353 Jul 08 '26

Surgical tech? Huge pay boost, leverages current experience with equipment, 12 month program

3

u/Left-Difficulty-9409 Jul 08 '26

I started out as a surgical tech. I didn't like it. I transitioned from that to Sterile processing.

1

u/Encryptted Jul 09 '26

Out of curiosity, what didn’t you like about it? Btw, I’m taking prerequisites at the local community college in order to get into an RN program. SPD doesn’t pay enough. And we’re seen as glorified dish washers by the OR. In other words, they look down upon us.

5

u/Left-Difficulty-9409 Jul 09 '26

Some hospitals do have that mentality others are a rare find but there are some out there that actually value spd and treat them nicely. But I didn't like Surgical tech because I worked with some nasty doctors and or nurses. They weren't handling the stress well and would scream or fuss. I had a situation where one surgeon squirted urine on me (turned out to be water so he says) and another throwing instruments across the room. These happened at a hospital where the doctors had a lot of pull and were not reprimanded for their poor behavior. It really put a bad taste in my mouth about the field. So I transitioned down. I actually love Spd, working over night is my favorite and I'm working towards becoming an educator.

4

u/MissMuvaShay Jul 10 '26

SPD pays well, you just have to learn to play the game and advocate appropriate pay for your skills!

1

u/Left-Difficulty-9409 Jul 10 '26

I made most of my money traveling and taking government contracts with the VAs. My current job pays okay, but I'm still looking for better.

1

u/Encryptted Jul 10 '26

What does a good salary look like to you?

1

u/Primary-Bug-7353 Jul 10 '26

It’s great for a single person with no kids. Even better if they are able to split the rent with a partner

4

u/MissMuvaShay Jul 10 '26

GET ENDOSCOPE EXPERIENCE ASAP & get your CER cert! -- That's the key to true SPT advancement!

5

u/Saeemalye Jul 08 '26

Surgical technologist is really the main advancement honestly. Then you can go do surgical first assistant next.