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As a patient-focused organization, University of Utah Health exists to enhance the health and well-being of people through patient care, research and education. Success in this mission requires a culture of collaboration, excellence, leadership, and respect. University of Utah Health seeks staff that are committed to the values of compassion, collaboration, innovation, responsibility, integrity, quality and trust that are integral to our mission. EO/AA
This position is responsible for sterilizing and decontaminating surgical instruments and supplies for use in the operating room and throughout the hospital and clinics.The incumbent assembles surgical carts, and tracks and maintains the total inventory of instruments, disposables, and implants. The employee is responsible for the monitoring of biological and chemical indicators to ensure quality and consistency for sterilization of instruments and medical supplies. This position is not responsible for providing patient care.
Corporate Overview: The University of Utah is a Level 1 Trauma Center and is nationally ranked and recognized for our academic research, quality standards and overall patient experience. Our five hospitals and eleven clinics provide excellence in our comprehensive services, medical advancement, and overall patient outcomes.
ResponsibilitiesEssential Functions- Prepares and sterilizes surgical instruments and supplies according to established procedures and techniques.
- Verifies that equipment functions properly, and the repair or replacement of defective instruments.
- Sorts sets of instrument trays, and medical equipment and makes them available to sterile processing customers in a timely manner.
- Assembles special procedure trays, surgical instrument trays and case carts.
- Delivers sterilized supplies to, and retrieves used supplies and trays from hospital department and clinic locations.
- Inspects and ensures proper functioning of instruments and equipment; facilitates the replenishment of low, broken or missing items.
- Documents patient charges for the use of supplies and procedure trays.
- Ability to perform the essential functions of the job as outlined above.
- Demonstrated human relations and effective communication skills.
- Basic knowledge of anatomy, physiology and medical terminology.
- Ability to follow written and verbal instructions.
- Ability to accurately detect blood that may remain on instruments before proceeding with the next step of sterilization.
- Ability to perform environmental maintenance duties and assists in maintaining inventory levels.
- Ability to work and communicate with clients and customers to satisfy their expectations.
- Demonstrated ability to acquire and utilize a comprehensive understanding of various sterilizers and sterilization methods; understand departmental supply requests and determine appropriate alternative supplies in the case of unavailability; prioritize workload and requests for supplies and trays.
- Ability to wear appropriate protective attire.
- Ability to be on-call, work weekends, holidays and rotate shifts as needed.
- Demonstrated knowledge and skills necessary to provide care appropriate to the age of the patients served on his or her assigned unit.
- Demonstrated knowledge of the principles of life span growth and development and the ability to assess data regarding the patient's status and provide care as described in the department's policies and procedures manual.
- Entry level position.
- Work experience in a medical setting.
Employee must be able to meet the following requirements with or without an accommodation.
- This position involves intermediate working conditions in a healthcare setting that may exert up to 50 pounds any may consistently require lifting, carrying, pushing, pulling, or otherwise moving objects. The incumbent may face exposure to potentially dangerous contaminated body fluids, used needles, razor blades, knives, bone shavings, pieces of glass, and other contaminants as part of the daily hazards of the job and must wear protective attire at all times. The position also requires standing or walking for long periods of time.
Skills Required
- Entry-level position; no prior experience required
- Ability to perform sterilization, decontamination, tray assembly, inventory, and supply-handling duties
- Basic knowledge of anatomy, physiology, and medical terminology
- Ability to follow written and verbal instructions and accurately inspect instruments for contamination
- Effective communication and human relations skills
- Ability to work rotating shifts, weekends, holidays, and on-call assignments
- Ability to lift, carry, push, or pull up to 50 pounds and stand or walk for extended periods
- Work experience in a medical setting
University of Utah Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about University of Utah and has not been reviewed or approved by University of Utah.
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Retirement Support — Employer-funded retirement contributions on both the academic campus and U of U Health are notably strong, with automatic contributions and additional voluntary savings options. This emphasis makes long-term financial benefits a distinctive part of the total compensation offering.
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Healthcare Strength — Multiple medical plan choices, robust mental-health support through the Employee Assistance Program, and wellness programs create a comprehensive health offering. Network options and wellness incentives further enhance coverage quality.
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Parental & Family Support — Paid parental leave policies provide options for fully paid periods or extended partial-pay leave for staff, with parallel provisions at U of U Health. Separate frameworks for faculty include modified duties and leave arrangements during family transitions.
University of Utah Insights
What We Do
The University of Utah, located in Salt Lake City in the foothills of the Wasatch Mountains, is the flagship institution of higher learning in Utah. Founded in 1850, it serves over 31,000 students from across the U.S. and the world. With over 72 major subjects at the undergraduate level and more than 90 major fields of study at the graduate level, including law and medicine, the university prepares students to live and compete in the global workplace. Known for its proximity to seven world-class ski resorts within 40 minutes of campus, the U encourages an active, holistic lifestyle, innovation and collaborative thinking to engage students, faculty and business leaders. The University of Utah became a member of the PAC-12 conference in July 2011. Technology and Commercialization The University of Utah is tops in the country for creating start-up companies from university research, according to a ranking by the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM). See http://unews.utah.edu/news_releases/u-of-utah-no-1-for-startups for more information. Forbes magazine’s recent ranking of the “Best States for Business” pointed to “an educated labor force” as a big reason Utah came in at number one. The U supplies many of the employees for companies that keep expanding their operations in Utah, such as Goldman Sachs, Adobe, Omniture, Oracle, Ebay and many others. http://pac12info.utah.edu/commercialization-of-innovation/ Healthcare University of Utah Health Care recently ranked first in the nation in a prestigious national study. The University Health System Consortium’s 2010 Quality and Accountability Study compared 98 of the nation’s top academic medical centers and ranked them based on core quality measures, patient safety indicators, mortality rates, re-admission rates, and patient satisfaction scores. See more about University of Utah Health Care at http://healthcare.utah.edu/index.php
