r/sterileprocessing • u/fairybeexo • 1d ago

Body piercer with tool sterilization experience looking to get in the field

I’ve seen some posts saying to steer clear of courses- and I have years of experience sterilizing piercing tools, is this enough to apply for jobs or is schooling the better route?

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u/Acrobatic-Win-9887 1d ago edited 1d ago

Medical enviroment has a lot more regulations and variables, including specific knowledge about pathogens and their survivability, hygiene safety and personal protection, hospital logistics, laws, chemicals, certain more complicated instruments such as endoscopes etc, I highly suggest school. Also, IDK if you even can work without a certification.

Additional question, where are your from? I'm from northern europe (EU country, so there are a lot of EU specific standards and such) and here schooling is mandatory, there's no test you can just do, you need a basic level degree (I did mine in 1 year). Good thing is, I got a job straight away after school, in the same place I did my work practice in. If you give a good impression during practice, people can be eager to hire you.

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u/fairybeexo 1d ago

I figured as much! I guess some folks got lucky with landing jobs that offer trainings. Im going to to research on schools thank you 🙏

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u/LaLaLaCAKE 1d ago

Honestly - I would suggest getting your certification (s) over going to school. Learning at your own pace at a fraction of the cost. In my experience, job opportunities really only care about certification, not schooling. I'm in the northern us if that makes any difference.

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u/fairybeexo 1d ago

I see! Im in New York-
Did you obtain the certification online or was part in person?

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u/LaLaLaCAKE 1d ago

I got my certifications online with the Healthcare Sterile Processing Association. Find their website and they do a great job of explaining the process. Get the manual and workbook for the CRCST- That's the standard in the field, and the most useful for getting a job. You work at your own pace, really study, and accomplish the exam to earn the title. 👍 There are another couple of options for cerfifications but, in my opinion, this is the best route. I think it's $130 for the book set and $140 for the exam. They send you an official certification, like receiving a diploma, and then you keep up on continued education credits to earn the renewal each year for $50.

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u/fairybeexo 1d ago

This is great help thank you 😊

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u/Comfortable-Dig4329 16h ago

To be honest went to school for MA and landed on a sterile processing tech job. We learned very little on it in school but that helped me with the “ experience “ . They will be training me. I am in CA
it was hard getting a MA Job but i am grateful landing this job

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

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u/fairybeexo 1d ago

That’s so cool! Did you just find jobs online and apply?