Central Sterile Processing Technician

 

This program offers a sequence of courses that provides coherent and rigorous content aligned with challenging academic standards and relevant technical knowledge and skills needed to prepare for further education and careers in the Health Science career cluster; provides technical skill proficiency, and includes competency-based applied learning that contributes to the academic knowledge, higher-order reasoning and problem-solving skills, work attitudes, general employability skills, technical skills, and occupation-specific skills, and knowledge of all aspects of Health Science career cluster.

This program is designed to prepare students for employment as supervisors, central supply, central supply workers, ambulatory surgery processors, surgical instrument processors, gastrointestinal (GI) flexible endoscope reprocessors, case cart technicians, inventory technicians, processing technicians, stock clerks:  stock room or warehouse, sterilizers, central service technicians (medical equipment preparers).

 

The content includes but is not limited to central services departmental organization and function; basic anatomy, physiology, microbiology and chemistry related to central service activities; quality assurance; infection control and isolation techniques, principles of safety; principles, methods and controls of sterilization processes; cleaning, processing, packaging, distributing, storing, and inventory control of sterile goods, instruments, trays, and equipment; medical terminology; surgical instrumentation; basic computer skills, interpersonal and job seeking skills, fundamentals of communication, case cart management, laparoscopic specialty, orthopedic specialty, flexible scope processing, shift supervisory skills and procurement of supplies and equipment.

 

Additional Information relevant to this Career and Technical Education (CTE) program is provided at the end of this document.

Program Structure

This program is a planned sequence of instruction consisting of 2 occupational completion points.

This program is comprised of courses which have been assigned course numbers in the SCNS (Statewide Course Numbering System) in accordance with Section 1007.24 (1), F.S.  Career and Technical credit shall be awarded to the student on a transcript in accordance with Section 1001.44(3)(b), F.S.

To teach the courses listed below, instructors must hold at least one of the teacher certifications indicated for that course.

The following table illustrates the postsecondary program structure:

 

Common Career Technical Core – Career Ready Practices

Career Ready Practices describe the career-ready skills that educators should seek to develop in their students.  These practices are not exclusive to a Career Pathway, program of study, discipline or level of education.  Career Ready Practices should be taught and reinforced in all career exploration and preparation programs with increasingly higher levels of complexity and expectation as a student advances through a program of study.

1. Act as a responsible and contributing citizen and employee.

2. Apply appropriate academic and technical skills.

3. Attend to personal health and financial well-being.

4. Communicate clearly, effectively and with reason.

5. Consider the environmental, social and economic impacts of decisions.

6. Demonstrate creativity and innovation.

7. Employ valid and reliable research strategies.

8. Utilize critical thinking to make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.

9. Model integrity, ethical leadership and effective management.

10. Plan education and career path aligned to personal goals.

11. Use technology to enhance productivity.

12. Work productively in teams while using cultural/global competence.