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.
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.
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.
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.