Central processing technicians are also known as sterile processing technicians. These are professionals that play a vital role in handling surgical equipment. They help prevent infection by cleaning, sterilizing, processing, assembling, storing, and distributing medical instruments. A great deal of care and precision is necessary to carry out this job effectively.
Hospitals are the primary employers of central processing technicians, although central processing technicians can also work in nursing homes, outpatient care centers, ambulatory surgical centers, and assisted living facilities.
A central processing technician needs to possess critical care skills. Employers will expect you to be cautious, courteous, and polite. To work in this role, you need to be a rule follower, patient, detail-oriented, analytical and hands-on. The most common diploma needed is an associate degree, high school diploma, and sometimes bachelor's degree. That said, you can earn an average of $35,781 per year working as a central processing technician. The higher you go, the better the pay.
How to Become a Central Processing Technician
What is a Central Processing Technician
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a Central Processing Technician. For example, did you know that they make an average of $16.12 an hour? That's $33,533 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 4% and produce 7,900 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Central Processing Technician Do
There are certain skills that many Central Processing Technicians have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed Communication skills, Math skills and Dexterity.
How To Become a Central Processing Technician
If you're interested in becoming a Central Processing Technician, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 29.2% of Central Processing Technicians have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 3.6% of Central Processing Technicians have master's degrees. Even though some Central Processing Technicians have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a Central Processing Technician. When we researched the most common majors for a Central Processing Technician, we found that they most commonly earn Bachelor's Degree degrees or Associate Degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on Central Processing Technician resumes include High School Diploma degrees or Diploma degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a Central Processing Technician. In fact, many Central Processing Technician jobs require experience in a role such as Surgical Technician. Meanwhile, many Central Processing Technicians also have previous career experience in roles such as Cashier or Customer Service Representative.
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Central Processing Technician Career Paths
As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, a Central Processing Technician can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as Surgical Technician, progress to a title such as Registered Nurse and then eventually end up with the title Operations Manager.
Central Processing Technician Jobs You Might Like
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Average Salary for a Central Processing Technician
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Central Processing Technician Demographics
Central Processing Technician Gender Distribution
After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
- Among Central Processing Technicians, 65.3% of them are women, while 34.7% are men.
- The most common race/ethnicity among Central Processing Technicians is White, which makes up 66.4% of all Central Processing Technicians.
- The most common foreign language among Central Processing Technicians is Spanish at 50.0%.
Find the best Central Processing Technician job for you
Central Processing Technician Jobs You Might Like
- High Paying Central Processing Technician Jobs - $41K and Up
- Entry Level Central Processing Technician Jobs
- Part Time Central Processing Technician Jobs
- Actively Hiring
- No Degree Central Processing Technician Jobs
Top Colleges for Central Processing Technicians
1. SUNY Stony Brook
Stony Brook, NY • Private
2. New York University
New York, NY • Private
3. University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
Minneapolis, MN • Private
4. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC • Private
5. Howard University
Washington, DC • Private
6. SUNY at Buffalo
Buffalo, NY • Private
7. Western Carolina University
Cullowhee, NC • Private
8. Eastern Illinois University
Charleston, IL • Private
9. SUNY College at Plattsburgh
Plattsburgh, NY • Private
10. George Washington University, The
Washington, DC • Private
Find the best Central Processing Technician job for you
Central Processing Technician Jobs You Might Like
- High Paying Central Processing Technician Jobs - $41K and Up
- Entry Level Central Processing Technician Jobs
- Part Time Central Processing Technician Jobs
- Actively Hiring
- No Degree Central Processing Technician Jobs
Online Courses For Central Processing Technician That You May Like
Maintaining and troubleshooting sophisticated medical instruments is not an easy task. In order to deliver effective care, the technician requires the knowledge of different aspects of biology and engineering. The different devices work in so many different ways and the literature about repair and troubleshooting is often hard to come by. It can be quite frustrating to search for solutions every time the operator encounters a problem. There is added pressure because the availability of medical...
The course is a comprehensive set of didactic lectures surveying fundamentals of transgender medical and surgical treatment. The material is meant to provide the student with core knowledge that is essential for current primary care providers caring for transgender patients. There are 10 modules led by the expert clinical faculty from the pioneering Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery, located within the Mount Sinai Health System and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New Yor...
Your guide to the history, science, math, and economics of medical imaging systems (e.g, X-ray, CT, MRI, Ultrasound)...
Top Skills For a Central Processing Technician
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 16.2% of Central Processing Technicians listed Surgical Procedures on their resume, but soft skills such as Communication skills and Math skills are important as well.
Best States For a Central Processing Technician
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a Central Processing Technician. The best states for people in this position are Nevada, California, Connecticut, and New Hampshire. Central Processing Technicians make the most in Nevada with an average salary of $46,885. Whereas in California and Connecticut, they would average $45,325 and $43,383, respectively. While Central Processing Technicians would only make an average of $42,952 in New Hampshire, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. Connecticut
$43,383
Avg. Salary
2. New Hampshire
$42,952
Avg. Salary
3. Michigan
$41,133
Avg. Salary