Sterile Processing Technician

POSITION SUMMARY

The Sterile Processing Technician decontaminates, inspects, assembles, packages and sterilizes every instrument used at the center, and maintains the load records that make an item-level recall possible. Reprocessing is among the most frequently cited areas in ambulatory surgery survey, and the documentation this role produces is what the surveyor reads.

The responsibilities of this position are organized around our operating model: Leadership & Management, Financial Optimization, Operational Efficiency, and Clinical Excellence.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

1. Leadership & Management

Goal: Contribute to a culture of accountability in reprocessing.

Take ownership of the department and of every load released from it.

Model the center’s standards for conduct, attendance and communication with the operating room team.

Complete assigned competencies and annual education on schedule.

Refuse to release a load that does not meet release criteria, and escalate rather than accommodate schedule pressure.

2. Financial Optimization

Goal: Protect the center’s financial performance through the decisions this role controls.

Protect instrument life through correct handling, cleaning chemistry and inspection, and report damage for repair before it becomes replacement.

Manage set completeness and repair and replacement requests so that missing instruments do not cause delays or duplicate purchasing.

Control reprocessing supply and chemistry use.

Limit immediate-use steam sterilization to policy-permitted circumstances, document every occurrence, and track it as a quality measure.

3. Operational Efficiency

Goal: Deliver complete, sterile, correctly assembled sets on the schedule the surgical day needs.

Perform decontamination, cleaning, inspection, assembly and packaging of surgical instrumentation.

Operate sterilizers and manage the reprocessing queue to the surgical schedule.

Maintain instrument tracking and set availability for the next day’s schedule.

Maintain sterile storage conditions and event-related sterility practice.

Communicate turn times and constraints to the operating room team before they become delays.

4. Clinical Excellence

Goal: Deliver reprocessing that produces excellent patient outcomes.

Run, document and interpret mechanical, chemical and biological monitoring per AAMI ST79, and release loads only on complete results.

Maintain complete sterilization load records that enable item-level recall.

Perform high-level disinfection where applicable, with complete documentation.

Execute recall procedures for failed loads and for manufacturer recalls.

Follow manufacturer instructions for use for every device, and raise any instruction the department cannot meet.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

High school diploma or equivalent required.

Certification in sterile processing (CRCST or equivalent) preferred; required within a defined period of hire per facility policy.

Current BLS certification.

Working knowledge of AAMI ST79 and of manufacturer instructions for use.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS AND WORK ENVIRONMENT

Work is performed in an ambulatory surgery center. The position requires standing, walking, bending, reaching and lifting or transferring in accordance with safe patient handling practice; visual and auditory acuity sufficient to monitor patients, equipment and alarms; manual dexterity; and the ability to respond to an emergency without delay. Exposure to blood and other potentially infectious material, hazardous chemicals, latex, radiation where imaging is in use, and surgical smoke is expected and is controlled through the center’s safety and infection prevention programs.

Pay: $33.00 - $34.00 per hour

Expected hours: 6.0 – 12.0 per week

Work Location: In person