Medical equipment preparers, also known as central supply technicians, use cleansing and sterilizing solutions to disinfect and sterilize laboratory or healthcare equipment, such as respirators, hospital beds, wheelchairs, and oxygen and dialysis equipment. These occupations usually require a high school diploma and may require some vocational training or job-related course work. In some cases, an associate’s or bachelor’s degree could be needed.
Medical Equipment Preparers use hand tools to install and set up equipment. They observe gauges and equipment operation to detect malfunctions to assure that equipment is operating properly. They also connect medical equipment to a water source to flush waste from the equipment.
Duties include delivering equipment to a specified hospital location or to a patient’s private residence and maintaining inventory and equipment usage records.
-Decontaminates medical equipment and distributes medical supplies to hospital, laboratories and clinics.
-Restocks, labels and maintains supply inventories, submits supply requisitions and distributes supplies, linens, medical equipment and crash arts to hospital departments, laboratories and clinics.
-Assembles, checks and finalizes crash carts. Places locks on carts to secure and maintain assigned equipment and supplies.
-Verifies that equipment functions properly, requisitions for equipment maintenance, repair or replacement; and removes defective equipment.
-Assists with maintaining established departmental policies and procedures, objectives; and quality improvement, safety, and environmental and infection control standards.
Requirements
-High school diploma or equivalent.
-Knowledge of sterilization procedures.
-Mechanical aptitude.
-Detail oriented.
-Good manual dexterity.
-Fingerprint clearance may be required by employer.
Medical Equipment Preparers Median hourly wage: $23.59
Average annual wage: $53,431
