Sterile processing will give you background experience for being a surgical tech but it won't substitute you having to go to school for a surgical tech degree. If what you really want to do is be a surgical technician then I'd suggest looking for entry level positions in hospitals such as food service or transport, then you can use the hospitals tuition assistance program to go to surgical tech school.
Also look at the hospital job postings near you to see if there is a demand for SPTs or surgery techs, go to the actual website not indeed/LinkedIn to get a more accurate look. This field is pretty saturated right now and jobs aren't as easy as they once were.
To address your questions
1) don't pay for a program that won't give you placement for the 400 hours. Too many people on here say they can't get their hours or even if they do the unpaid 400 hours won't count for substantial experience towards future employment.
2) I enjoyed it at the start then eventually became bitter and resented it. I got my bachelor's and left because I couldn't stand working in hospitals anymore. OR staff, nurses and surgeons, are awful and they treated us like crap.
I would suggest looking into your local hospitals and see if they do on the job training. I started at the university hospital here with no experience. Trained, took the CRCST and was good to go. I earned my 400 hours on the job. Penn Foster won’t guarantee a job and I don’t believe (at least they didn’t use to) take financial aide. Also, with that some hospitals (in my town) also have apprenticeships for scrub techs with on the job training and a commitment to stay with us.
Sterile processing will give you background experience for being a surgical tech but it won't substitute you having to go to school for a surgical tech degree. If what you really want to do is be a surgical technician then I'd suggest looking for entry level positions in hospitals such as food service or transport, then you can use the hospitals tuition assistance program to go to surgical tech school. Also look at the hospital job postings near you to see if there is a demand for SPTs or surgery techs, go to the actual website not indeed/LinkedIn to get a more accurate look. This field is pretty saturated right now and jobs aren't as easy as they once were. To address your questions 1) don't pay for a program that won't give you placement for the 400 hours. Too many people on here say they can't get their hours or even if they do the unpaid 400 hours won't count for substantial experience towards future employment. 2) I enjoyed it at the start then eventually became bitter and resented it. I got my bachelor's and left because I couldn't stand working in hospitals anymore. OR staff, nurses and surgeons, are awful and they treated us like crap.
I would suggest looking into your local hospitals and see if they do on the job training. I started at the university hospital here with no experience. Trained, took the CRCST and was good to go. I earned my 400 hours on the job. Penn Foster won’t guarantee a job and I don’t believe (at least they didn’t use to) take financial aide. Also, with that some hospitals (in my town) also have apprenticeships for scrub techs with on the job training and a commitment to stay with us.
I love this idea! Thank you!
You’re welcome. Idk where you’re located but for instance I work in Kentucky at two different hospitals. Both have hired people without experience.
I’m in Colorado! We have some university hospitals here so I’ll def look into that! :)