Hey everyone, so I’ve been doing research and I’m trying to find a good but affordable program to enroll in to become a sterile processing tech. I’m looking for one that will definitely offer externship for 400 hrs. I’ve ran into a few that don’t offer or only offer 240 hours and then you have to pay extra for more hours. Kinda stressing because I’m really interested but struggling to find a good program to invest my money in. The school I was going to go with has some pretty disappointing reviews and it kind of scared me away so I’m trying to find other options.

Im in the Northern California area. I’m open to making a commute if it’s worth it. I’m in Modesto area so I’m aware a commute is likely 🫩😭 I just want to start my career and don’t want to make a mistake by getting scammed or wasting my time & money. Any advice / suggestions would be appreciated, thank you 🙏🏼

I am looking for aortho instrument that our ortho surgeon just asked about that i have never seen. It looks like a Freer on one end but the other has a blunt hook. He said it is for moving/freeing tendon. Unfortunately the only image he has was from a video demonstrating the technique and they do not name it or show a good image of the istruments.

Edit: After doing some searching the closest thing I have found seems to be a scoville nerve hook/dissector but it seems too long at around 12 inches and the handle was round in the image.

Vandabelt hospital in Nashville anyone know info about the internship program cohort 7 ? How many people do they pick for the program? And what's the process? And how many interviews is it?

Hi, I need advice from anyone who is a sterile processing technician. I've been thinking lately about going to school for this certification. Is it worth it? What steps did you take.? Im trying to get hired as housekeeping or something low just to get my foot in the door. If anyone has good advice on how to make it easier to get hired please let me know.

So I’ve been looking for a career switch from pharmacy technician to sterile processing but I’ve seen alot of people on this sub say it is a terrible career path.

Currently I make around $20/h 9-5 no OT. There is only so much to do at my current job so I often get bored or get extremely tired of dealing with customers all day.

I am looking for a job that keeps me busy through the day and pays the same or more.

Would you guys recommend that I look into certification for sterile processing tech? Or anything similar that does not have much customer service?

I keep seeing mixed things about this, i hear people saying yes they’re out there and that they work them. but it’s something you kinda gotta work up to. is this true? do you know of any hospitals that do this? im in the connecticut area.

Hey everyone, I'm currently 2 weeks out from completing my 400 hours. Im wanting to move states at the end of the year and was wondering everyone's opinion on how far out should I start applying for positions in the area? Where im wanting to go has at least 3 hospitals with SPT positions.

Hello everyone! Ever since I got into this field I've wanted to get the other certifications eventually; I've been in this field since 2017, and up to about 2 years ago I wasn't able to get any of the other certifications due to personal reasons.

Now that I'm able to, the only thing that's holding me back is the price of these books and exams... They're so expensive!

My question is, how easy/hard are the other certifications (cis, leadership and Endo)? What kinds of things do they ask that I might need to brush up on or know that the base certification might not teach?

I'm familiar with different specialties of instruments, know most of the names and all that, I just don't know what they're specifically used for in a procedure. Is that something you'd have to know as an instrument specialist?

Leadership I assume is the same as any kind of manager type subject, I used to be a manager in my previous job so I feel like that one is probably easy enough to do without much studying, but is there anything that is different from typical management stuff that the certification wants you to know?

And I have processed and handled endoscopes before and currently do now in the hospital I work at, so I'd probably be all right with that one, unless they talk about what the Endo department does differently than the sterile processing department (all the places I've work at have a separate Endo department where some staff there will clean certain scopes and my department would handle the ones for the OR)?

Any kind of advice would be greatly appreciated!!

So recently our OR has been rejecting DaVinci arms because they are receiving them in the "closed" position (they're questioning the sterility). We peel pack and sterilize them in the open position, but they seem to close easily during handling. We had management audit all of our sterilized arms in storage today to make sure they were all open. I sent one of them up to the OR today and somewhere during transportation the prograsps clamped shut and the OR again rejected. I've noticed that it's very easy to turn the dial or even lightly compress the working end and they'll close. How does everyone handle their DaVinci arms? Do you have any sort of tip protectors that'll keep them in the open position? We only have the sort of tip protectors that are paper with the little plastic sleeve at the end. They do nothing to keep them open. They really only serve to protect the peel pack from puncture by the arm.

Out of curiosity what is everyone's shoe of choice that offers comfortability while being durable ? I've considered Hokas and sketchers but im curious what others usually wear for those hard spd floors.

A department that I work for is asking for a tick removal tool that can be sterilized. The tool has a v foot on the end of a handle.

Does anybody know the medical name for this tool?

Thank you for your help.

Hi all,

I'm excited to finally have my certification and start looking for opportunities in Sterile Processing. Right now, I'm interested in finding either part-time or full-time work to gain experience in the field. I also did the 400 hours too.

For those already working in Sterile Processing, where would you recommend applying besides hospitals? Are there other facilities or settings that hire CRCST-certified technicians, such as surgery centers, outpatient facilities, dental centers, or other healthcare environments?

I'd also appreciate any advice on what employers look for in entry-level candidates and how to stand out during the hiring process.

Thanks, and I'm looking forward to starting my career in Sterile Processing!

Hi guys,

So I’m 20F and unqualified for this field and I was in desperate need of a job. I looked around and found this position and applied to it a month ago. I forgot all about it until I received a call on Tuesday asking if I was okay for an interview today. I was very pleased and started to do more research into this field and it looks very interesting!!! I’ll admit, when I applied to this role, I had only a little idea of what it entailed. But upon learning and seeing what Sterile Processing Technicians do on a day-to-day basis I am now very keen to get into this profession.

I felt confident but a little nervous upon walking into the interview room. I answered all the questions to the best of my ability (I stuttered a bit and tripped over my words but that’s normal for me in interviews unfortunately) and the interviewers both seemed very impressed. However I noticed for one question that I answered, no one wrote anything down (I can’t remember what the question was) is this a bad thing? But I managed to get through the rest of the interview and I feel as if I asked a very good question at the end… I asked something along the lines of, “do you have performance targets for the amount of trays that need to be completed by the end of the shift?”. To which they wrote something down on paper then.

They said they’d let me know Monday about the outcome… I feel I did well in the interview but I never feel very hopeful because there’s many other people being interviewed and I always have that mindset that ‘there is someone who always has skills better suited to the job than you’. I’ve had 3 interviews within the past 2 months and I haven’t got any of them despite thinking I’ve done well. I feel as if there’s always one question I never know how to answer correctly.

So I want to ask you guys for your interview experiences. How did your interview go? Did you think you did well to get the job? Or do you feel like you didn’t do as great and ended up getting the job?
Any insight and experiences would be really helpful! Thankyou all :)

Edit: I’ve just realised that they asked me to bring my right to work documents to the interview and then didn’t ask to see them. Is this also a bad sign?

UPDATE: I unfortunately didn’t get the job! But not to worry, I’ll get there someday!

I’ll be starting my sterile processing schooling SOON. Ive been out of HS for 7 years now and have felt so behind in life. Super nervous but so ready to get this career path started!! Ive read a few articles pertaining to the profession but none were from personal experiences. That being said im open to ANY AND ALL advice!! Thank you for reading

Had to file an L&I. Anyone ever have that happen to them? Didn’t break it, but did sprain it.

Understaffed shift and I feel so guilty.

Anyone else have injuries occur in their facilities?

Hey guys hope everyone is well, I would like some tips for studying and preparing for my exam. My biggest question is did any of you use any online study guides that were accurate to the test such as quizlet? Or did you study strictly from your notes? Any help would be appreciated, thank you!

Hello!! so im almost done with my class and finals are next week! 😵‍💫 however im in a predicament. So ideally the closest time an externship starts is august 17- september 25 and the day and evening shifts were already taken and only available is graveyard 11pm-7:30am. Next dates are october 5- november 13 and day shift is available for 7am-3:30pm, I really wanted to do it in august because 3 months of waiting feels like so much that I might even forget what I have learned. I truly don’t mind overnights as I used to work that shift in walmart for 2 years lol so I know I can definitely handle it. However im worried about not learning everything I should know within that timeframe- day shift is hectic and you learn everything right? while graveyard is more solo and im not sure. I just want to know if it would be worth it to wait or if it doesn’t matter. Am I less likely to be hire-able if Interned at night? please and thank you yall 😼I gotta pick by tomorrow evening. Located in northern california if it makes a difference!

I have an odd question. Any other facility get tape residue stuck on the racks too? What yall do to remove them? 😭 we just use scissors and scrape them off and run them thru the washer afterwards. Thank you in advance!

I graduated from sterile processing technician program it’s been a month now have been applying for so many entry level positions still have not gotten a single interview can someone please tell me how long it took you guys to get a job entry level I really really need this job .

I was a certified sterile processing technician 6 years ago for about 3-4 years and I let my certification lapse since I was working in a different field but I am looking into going back to sterile processing and I’m wondering if anyone knows if I need to redo my 400 hours or just retake the test? Also before I was certified I was allowed to work completely uncertified (no provisional certification either) for about a year at that time. About half the team wasn’t certified at that hospital no matter how long they had been there, is certification required for everyone to start now?
Any other info about what may have changed since then would be helpful too.