I worked in the Sterile processing department (SPD) at ProMedica Toledo Hospital for about 12 months. I decided to quit after 12 months along with 4 other new employees due to SPD leadership creating an awful toxic work environment for all of us Sterile Processing Technicians.
Based on my experience working at the ProMedica Toledo Hospital, SPD leadership seemed very disconnected from the day-to-day realities faced by sterile processing technicians work . There was a strong emphasis on meeting operating room demands, which often resulted in increased workloads, adding more responsibilities for sterile processing technicians and not caring or valuing sterile processions technician opinions. At times, this made it difficult to maintain a healthy work-life balance. I was always feeling overworked every end of the week, they never rotated me, worked in decontamination everyday, my opinions to them didn’t matter and they would even make your work harder if you shared an opinion they did not agree about.
I also observed a relatively high turnover rate amongst sterile processing technicians quitting just the first month of me working there in as little as 3 months or 4 months which is a reflection of the toxic work environment the SPD leadership created for all of us. While the role provides valuable experience, I felt that improvements could be made in employee support, workload management, rotating workers and compensation.
Overall, the compensation is not worth all of their high unrealistic expectations. The SPD leadership doesn’t care about your opinion, they will use you for their own gain and if your a new employee, be ready to be overworked, under appreciated and not valued whatsoever. I would not recommend anyone experienced or new to work as a sterile processing technician for ProMedica Toledo hospital, stay far away.
