Sterile Processing Coordinator

University of Utah Health•Salt Lake City, UT

4d•Onsite

About The Position

This position sterilizes and decontaminates surgical instruments and supplies for use in operating rooms, hospitals, and clinics. The coordinator assembles surgical carts and maintains inventory of instruments, disposables, and implants, while monitoring biological and chemical indicators to ensure consistent sterilization quality. The role provides technical expertise in cleaning, assembling, and processing specialized instruments and medical supplies and serves as a subject matter expert in sterile processing. The coordinator also organizes the daily activities of other employees, including monitoring performance, scheduling shifts, coordinating and conducting training and in-services, and monitoring quality-control and safety processes. This position does not provide patient care.

Requirements

Three years of sterile processing experience.
One qualifying certification: HSPA Certified Instrument Specialist (CIS), Certified Endoscope Reprocessor (CER), or Certified Healthcare Leadership (CHL); or CBSPD Certified Flexible Endoscope Reprocessor (CFER), Certified Surgical Instrument Specialist (CSIS), or Certified Sterile Processing Management (CSPM).
Maintain current certification through HSPA or CBSPD; additional license requirements may be determined by the hiring department.
Demonstrated human-relations and effective communication skills.
Basic knowledge of anatomy, physiology, and medical terminology.
Ability to work independently and follow written and verbal instructions.
Ability to detect blood that may remain on instruments before proceeding with sterilization.
Ability to perform environmental maintenance duties and assist with maintaining inventory levels.
Ability to work and communicate with clients and customers to meet their expectations.
Ability to understand sterilizers and sterilization methods, departmental supply requests, appropriate alternative supplies, and how to prioritize workloads and requests for supplies and trays.
Ability to wear appropriate protective attire.
Ability to be on-call, work weekends and holidays, and rotate shifts as needed.
Ability to meet the physical requirements of the position with or without an accommodation, including lifting, carrying, pushing, pulling, standing, or walking for extended periods and moving objects weighing up to 50 pounds.
Ability to work amid exposure to potentially dangerous contaminated body fluids, used needles, razor blades, knives, bone shavings, pieces of glass, and other contaminants.

Responsibilities

Prepare and sterilize surgical instruments and supplies according to established procedures and techniques.
Assemble special procedure trays, surgical instrument trays, and case carts.
Deliver sterilized supplies to hospital departments and clinics and retrieve used supplies and trays.
Inspect instruments and equipment to ensure proper functioning.
Facilitate replenishment of low, broken, or missing items.
Document patient charges for supplies and procedure trays.
Restock labels, maintain inventory, submit requisitions, and collect and distribute instrument trays, carts, and facility medical supplies.
Verify equipment functions properly and confirm repair or replacement of defective equipment.
Sort instrument sets, trays, and medical equipment and make them available to sterile processing customers in a timely manner.
Assist with maintaining departmental policies and procedures, objectives, quality improvement, safety, environmental, and infection-control standards.
Coordinate daily activities of other employees by monitoring performance, coordinating and scheduling work shifts, conducting training and in-services, and monitoring quality-control and safety processes.
Participate in and support continuous quality-improvement activities.
Serve as a subject matter expert in sterilization methods, instrumentation, and sterilization standards.
Troubleshoot instrumentation needs for the operating room and other departments.
Serve as an expert in sterile processing database programs.
Order supplies as needed.