Medical Equipment Preparers
Prepare, sterilize, install, or clean laboratory or healthcare equipment. May perform routine laboratory tasks and operate or inspect equipment.
- Median pay
- $47,700
- Doing it now
- 79,900
- By 2035
- Up 10.8%
- Usually needs
- High school diploma or equivalent
a year
across the country
10,700 openings a year
to get in
What the work involves
- Organize and assemble routine or specialty surgical instrument trays or other sterilized supplies, filling special requests as needed.
- Clean instruments to prepare them for sterilization.
- Operate and maintain steam autoclaves, keeping records of loads completed, items in loads, and maintenance procedures performed.
- Record sterilizer test results.
- Start equipment and observe gauges and equipment operation to detect malfunctions and to ensure equipment is operating to prescribed standards.
- Examine equipment to detect leaks, worn or loose parts, or other indications of disrepair.
- Report defective equipment to appropriate supervisors or staff.
What to study
The fields of study the Department of Education links to this occupation, most widely taught first.
- Clinical/Medical Laboratory Science/Research and Allied ProfessionsSee 335 colleges that teach it
Who it suits
O*NET scores every occupation on six interest dimensions. This one leans hardest on these three.
Hands-on and practical
Organised and precise
Analytical and curious
Careers like this one
Where this comes from: the description and the task list are O*NET, which the Department of Labor maintains. Pay, workforce size, outlook and the education normally needed are the Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections programme, 2025 wages and 2025 to 2035 projections. Half of them earn more than $47,700 a year, which means half earn less, and what you would earn depends on where you work and how long you have been doing it. The fields of study come from the National Center for Education Statistics crosswalk.