Sterile Processing Technician

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Hello, people of W.P! I have not been around for a while...

I am a housekeeper in healthcare and basically on a brink of having my workplace shut down due to funding....

My NT friend works at a hospital as a Patient Support Assistant. He was discussing with me that he was thinking of studying to become a Sterile Processing Technician, Sterilizer. He explained to me that it is not as stressful and it helps if you have attention to detail and that you have very little interaction with patients etc. It sounded like a decent and secure job for an Aspie.... I am wondering if I could do it. I would like to be able to disclose my diagnosis to my new employer.

I was wondering if there is anybody here who is a Sterile Processing Technician who is also on the autism spectrum?

I am not one, but I think it would be a good job for an aspie. You'd be running surgical instruments and other medical equipment through the autoclave (or however they sterilize things nowadays). Lots of orderly tasks. And I think it would let you eventually branch into other hospital technician-laboratory jobs if they were available. (But as a policy/strategic matter, I would never disclose your diagnosis to an employer, at least at hiring, unless it's so obvious that you can't conceal it. But that of course is up to you.)

Thank you for your reply!
I have been watching videos of Sterilizer Tech's doing some tasks and it looks okay.
I currently work in mental health doing housekeeping... almost all my coworkers are social workers and I cannot tell if they guessed or are aware or what, as I haven't told them anything. I do happen to take a lot of sick days due to migraines, sensory overload, low energy etc. I have depression, anxiety, PTSD... Basically not great for working directly with mental health care clients. I work part time and I still get tired.

My good friend that I mentioned, I disclosed it to him last week and he replied with, "But that's kind of obvious, isn't it? I mean in a good way..." He as a family member with autism, so I wonder if anybody at my work has picked up on it.

I only got diagnosed last year because I demanded a referral from my doctor for a screening as it was staring me straight in the face the more I learnt about it. I went through the process and it was both of no surprise to me and ind of refreshing to know basically the answer to everything I have experienced in life.

I do often fear that if someone I know finds my WP account or these posts, my identity will seem very obvious.

I've worked in hospitals all of my adult life and from what I've seen this position would suit a person with ASD perfectly. No dealing with the public/patients at all. Long periods of time spent working under your own direction doing decontamination, wrapping, sterilising, labelling and quality control on various surgical instruments. No problems with listening to music while you work. I'm located in Australia and over here the staff are referred to as CSSD Technicians. There is significant demand for CSSD techs, maybe it's because a lot of people find the nature of the work boring and want more interpersonal interaction!

I live in Australia too. I didn't know they were referred to as CSSD Technicians. My friend works as a PSA and he has friends at the hospital he works at who do this job and they say it is a great job - and yes, get to listen to music.
It sounds like the perfect job for me. He watches me listen to music and concentrate on building lego lately - he thinks I would make a great CSSD tech.

So I applied months ago and I was all planned to start study this month...
Got an email yesterday saying it's a competitive process and I didn't get chosen.
Feel lost at what I should do with myself now. I don't want to be a housekeeper forever.

So sorry to hear that. Are there any training programs or classes available that you make you more competitive? Or was there any reason given why you weren't selected?

No given reason. No training programs or anything. I guess it's these people already had a job in the field or something.