All medical or surgical procedures are developed with the patient’s health and safety in mind. An essential component is ensuring all surgical instruments are properly prepared for use. Surgical instrument processing technicians work in hospital’s central service department and serve two primary roles. First, the technicians are responsible for cleaning and sterilizing reusable surgical equipment and ensure there is an adequate supply of instruments and disposable items to meet the hospital’s needs. Technicians need to be familiar with the appropriate procedures for handling surgical instruments to ensure the safety of themselves and the patient. Reusable instruments must be disassembled, properly cleaned, reassembled, and sterilized for future use. It is also important that technicians properly gauge the levels of disposable items needed and be able to meet the surgical requests for doctors who may require specialized items. In the Surgical Instrument Processing Certificate Program, students learn how to prepare, clean, and sterilize surgical instruments and maintain inventory, perform laboratory tasks, operate and inspect medical equipment. Upon successful completion of the program students will have sufficient knowledge to take the Central Service Technician national certification examination offered by IAHCSMM.
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In order to be an effective surgical instrument processing technician, students need to be detail oriented and possess good organizational skills. Students will benefit from developing good communication skills and possess effective time management skills.
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Upon completion of this certificate program, students are expected to able to:
- List the steps to clean, disinfect, sterilize, and package surgical instruments and equipment to prepare for use
- Identify how instruments, equipment, and utensils are transported to prepare for cleaning and reprocessing
- List systems used to track inventory of reusable and disposable supplies, equipment, and instruments for distribution
Completion: Students must successfully complete 18 semester credit hours to earn a Surgical Instrument Processing Certificate.
Surgical Instrument Processing Certificate Program – Topics Include
Communications and Human Relations Skills
Regulations and Standards
Medical Terminology, Anatomy, and Physiology
Microbiology for Central Service
Infection Prevention and Control
Tools for Cleaning
Point of Use Preparation and Transport
Cleaning and Decontamination
Disinfection
Surgical Instrumentation
Sterile Packaging and Storage
High and Low Temperature Sterilization
Inventory Management
Management of Patient Care Equipment
Tracking Systems
Quality Assurance
Safety
Sterile Processing for Ambulatory Surgery and Other Practices
Point of Use Processing
Complex Surgical Instruments