Is sterile processing stressful?

While this job has high standards and a heavy workload, it is not as stressful as other healthcare positions as the amount of patient interaction are limited. Additionally, sterile processing technicians have limited responsibilities in making complex and difficult decisions regarding a patient's health and well-being.

However, sterile processing technicians need to be meticulous as they are responsible for sterilizing and cleaning medical equipment, instruments, and supplies.

The sterile processing technician's responsibilities include retrieving contaminated supplies and delivering sterile supplies, maintaining inventory, and preparing sterile instrument trays for surgeries, examinations, and procedures.

These duties can all be stressful as they require close attention to detail and a delicate hand to work with fragile equipment.

Other duties that make a sterile processing job more stressful include the following:

• Collect used and contaminated equipment, instruments, and supplies for sorting and decontamination

• Manually clean supplies of contaminants, remove waste matter, and operate and maintain decontamination equipment

• Prepare and pack decontaminated supplies for sterilization

• Monitor and operate sterilization equipment

• Examine supplies meticulously to ensure they are properly cleaned and sanitized

• Test and report any issues or problems with the sterilization equipment

• Sterilize, prepare, wrap, and organize equipment into instrument trays for use during medical procedures

• Prepare and deliver all necessary equipment and instruments for surgeries, examinations, medical procedures, and medical carts

• Maintain records of sterilization procedures, sterilized items, equipment maintenance, and supplies

• Control the inventory, reorder supplies, and check expiration dates