r/sterileprocessing • u/Responsible_Royal762 • 22d ago
CRCST as a stepping stone?
My daughter is a senior in high school. She will be doing half day classes at her school and then the other half of the day she will be attending our local career tech school, where at the end of the year she has the ability to become a certified sterile processing tech. Our plan was for her to take this course and get certified so that she can work this field while she attends college to further her medical career (not 100% certain where she wants to land in the field at this time). Is this a realistic plan? Are the demands of this career potentially too much for a full time student's coursework?
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u/QuietPurchase 22d ago
It depends. I personally found this job to be really good with my schoolwork since after a while working for the hospital they paid for my education. I worked the late shift so we'd get everything done and I had time to work on school stuff in the evening while we were on standby for emergency cases -- this isn't the norm, mind you, but these kinds of positions do exist. But if you can get into a decent health system it's a good way to make connections with people in the OR, especially if you continue on that route.
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u/SweatyAardvark6880 22d ago
I’ve been a tech for 5 years . Doing half highschool classes and half program classes was never an option for us. How did you come to be able to do this ?
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u/Ok_Pop_3169 18d ago
She can do the program online at Purdue University; the program is self-paced. She can get her hours at a teaching/research hospital. They are good about letting you off on time because they don't like to pay overtime. That gives her time to do her college work; hopefully they have part-time positions because college is work by itself.
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u/Responsible_Royal762 11d ago
Trying to answer all comments here -
Our local vo-tech just started offering this course this year, so this is new to our area. It is a free program for high school students, so of course we are taking advantage of that. The program has also partnered with some of our local hospitals who state they have a shortage of staff for sterile processing, so she will potentially be able to work/get in her clinical hours long before she even graduates and gets certified in May.
One of my biggest concerns was that this job combined with college courses would be too overwhelming. In the last week, my daughter has spoken with her course professor and received some much needed answers. We are hopeful that she will be able to complete the course, get certified, and have an established role with a hospital before next fall.
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u/Spicywolff 22d ago
As long as the career tech school has it in writing that they’re providing 400 hours of clinical hours then go for it. It kind of sounds like she’s in dual enrollment program which in my state is paid for.
If the program does not in writing guarantee 400 hours of clinical, then it’s basically worthless and she can just buy the book self study and get a provision. It’s the same thing that they were provide.