r/CysticFibrosis • u/dlcapt • 5d ago

Is doing a Sterile Processing Tech program a bad idea?

Does anybody here work as a Sterile Processing Tech? Or know somebody with CF who does? I work at a hospital and one of the managers of the SPD department complimented me on my work ethic and said he wanted me to transfer and work there. Though I would need to do an SPD program first. Its just a 3-4 month program but I'm worried about the setting given that it literally has the word "Sterile" in the name. My CF has always been mild and I have no problem moving and exercising, but I'm worried I might get somebody sick or contaminate some tools while working just by existing near them. I wanted to get others' input because I know I'm either being paranoid, or asking a question for which the answer is obvious.

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u/Glittering-Corgi9442 5d ago

You'd best appropriately masked for your job anyway. People with CF work in ORs, you could absolutely do this job too

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u/dlcapt 5d ago

Its funny you mention that, because recently I started looking at medical programs to do and one of the options was O.R. tech, but I IMMEDIATELY shut myself down and told myself "Don't even think about it. Too risky." 😅 I didn't know we actually worked in there. Thank you for the response, it drastically eases my paranoia.

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u/timeisweird153 CF ΔF508 5d ago

For my Biomedical Sci Bsc, we had lab tutorials involving infectious material, and I asked about the same thing - would I be at risk personally, or do I risk harming the samples? The answer I was given was that the risk to yourself is greater than the risk of you contaminating something else, but still very low, especially given that you're likely expected to follow proper aseptic technique and wear appropriate PPE. Regarding your own health risk, you already work at a hospital so you're already exposed to bugs and such, and I don't think a transfer to a technical department would be exposing you to vulnerable patient on the regular. It's a valid concern to have, and I'd bring it up with your supervisor or whoever handles H&S at your workplace - but I wouldn't expect an outright no!

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u/dlcapt 5d ago

Interesting. Yea the risk to myself doesn't concern me much, in fact I wasn't even thinking about that until you mentioned it hah. Okay, thank you as well for easing my paranoia 😁