How to Screen Sterile Processing Technicians: 9 Questions and What to Listen For Screening Interview Template

Tell me about your sterile processing experience. What kind of facility was it (hospital SPD, ambulatory surgery center, endoscopy center, dental or specialty practice, third-party reprocessor), which areas did you work in (decontamination, prep and pack, sterilization, sterile storage, case carts), and roughly how many trays or sets did your department process on a typical shift?

What this assesses: This sorts the four jobs that share this title before you spend time on anyone. Strong answers name the setting, say which areas they personally worked rather than which ones the department had, and give a real number of trays or cases per shift. Someone who has rotated through all of it will say so and will also name where they are slowest. Be cautious with a candidate who offers only that they have hospital experience, cannot say whether they worked the dirty side or the clean side, or gives a volume number that does not fit the facility they described. A tech who has only run decontamination can absolutely be trained onto prep and pack, but that is a training plan rather than a lateral hire, and you want to know which one you are making before the offer goes out.

Do you hold a sterile processing certification, and which one: the CRCST from HSPA, the CSPDT from CBSPD, or an advanced credential such as instrument specialist or endoscope reprocessor? What is its current status, are your continuing education hours up to date, and when does it renew?

What this assesses: Certification here is not decoration. A handful of states require it by law and many hospital systems require it within a set window after hire, so this answer decides whether you are hiring a technician or a trainee on a clock. Strong answers name the certifying body rather than just the acronym, know the renewal date, and know how many continuing education hours they owe and where they get them. A candidate working toward certification with a test date already booked is a real answer, not a dodge. Be cautious with someone who says they are certified but cannot name who certified them, whose credential lapsed and who has no plan to reinstate it, or who is describing a completed training course as a certification. Advanced credentials in instrument specialization or endoscope reprocessing matter if you run robotics or a scope room, and are not worth paying a premium for if you do not.

Walk me through what happens to a used instrument set from the moment it leaves the operating room until it is ready for assembly. Include what you put on before you start, what you do first, and how a lumened instrument gets cleaned.

What this assesses: This separates people who have done the job from people who have been near it. Strong answers move in order and in the right vocabulary: point-of-use treatment to keep instruments from drying, a closed or covered container for transport, full PPE before entering decontamination including a fluid-resistant gown, face shield, and heavy utility gloves, then sorting and disassembly, manual cleaning below the waterline with a correctly sized brush, an ultrasonic step where the instructions for use call for one, and the washer-disinfector last. On lumens they describe brushing the full length and flushing rather than trusting the machine to reach inside. Weak answers begin at we put everything in the washer. Be cautious with a candidate who describes scrubbing above the waterline, cannot say why the decontamination room is kept under negative pressure, or treats PPE as optional when the room is hot. Everything downstream is worthless if this step is wrong, because you cannot sterilize an instrument that is still dirty.

Tell me about an instrument or set with complicated manufacturer instructions for use, and a time the IFU conflicted with how your department normally did things. What did you do?

What this assesses: IFU discipline is the best single predictor of whether a technician will quietly create a problem. Strong answers name a real device category and a real constraint: robotic instruments with specific flush ports and cycle requirements, powered drills and saws that cannot be immersed, ophthalmic instruments where residue risk drives a separate cleaning process, flexible scopes with leak testing and channel brushing, or a set that needs longer dry time than the standard cycle allows. Then they describe going to the written IFU, pulling it from the department's library or the manufacturer, and escalating to a lead or the vendor rep rather than deciding alone. Be cautious with a candidate who has never read an IFU, who says every set is basically the same, or whose entire answer is that they did it the way they were shown. Being shown is how bad practice survives in a department for years without anyone catching it.

Describe how you assemble and inspect a tray. How do you use the count sheet, what are you checking each instrument for, and what do you do when a set is short an instrument and the case is in an hour? Which tracking system did you use: Censitrac, SPM, something else, or paper?

What this assesses: Assembly is where inattention turns into a delayed case. Strong answers describe inspecting under a magnification lamp, checking box locks, ratchets, tips, and jaw alignment, testing scissors and needle holders, checking insulation on electrosurgical instruments, and pulling anything damaged instead of sending it and hoping. They treat the count sheet as the record rather than a suggestion, and on a short tray they flag it, document it, and tell the lead and the OR rather than wrapping it short and letting the discovery happen at the sterile field. On tracking they name the system and say what they actually did in it, scanning at each step and closing out loads. Be cautious with a candidate who assembles from memory because they know the sets, who treats a missing retractor as no big deal, or who cannot name a single reason to reject an instrument. Speed at assembly is easy to teach. Willingness to slow down and reject a set is not.

How did you verify that a sterilizer was actually working? Walk me through your daily and per-load checks, what you did differently with implant loads, and what happened the last time a load failed or a biological came back positive.

What this assesses: The failure half of this question is the useful half, because anyone can narrate a normal day. Strong answers cover the layers unprompted: an air removal test at the start of the day on a pre-vacuum sterilizer, a biological indicator on whatever schedule policy requires, an external process indicator plus an internal chemical integrator in every pack, and a load control number so any pack can be traced back to its cycle. On implants they say the load is held until the biological reads out and that releasing early is a documented exception rather than routine. On failure they describe quarantining the load, pulling back to the last known good biological, notifying the lead and infection prevention, and taking the sterilizer out of service until it is retested. Be cautious with a candidate who mentions only the tape on the outside of the pack, who cannot explain the difference between a chemical indicator and a biological, or who says they never had a failed load, which is improbable across any real length of service. Wet packs are worth a follow-up too, since a candidate who has sent one and knows why it happened has learned something the candidate who never noticed one has not.

Which sterilization methods have you run besides steam: hydrogen peroxide gas plasma or vaporized hydrogen peroxide, ethylene oxide, or high-level disinfection for scopes and probes? And what was your process when a vendor loaner set showed up the night before a case?

What this assesses: Loaner sets are where departments actually get burned, so ask about them directly. Strong answers name the low-temperature systems they have run and know what belongs in each, including that lumens and cellulose-containing wraps carry restrictions in a peroxide system. On loaners they describe a real process: receiving and counting the set against the vendor's list, confirming the IFU arrived with it, allowing time for full decontamination and a complete sterilization cycle rather than assuming the vendor cleaned it, and pushing back when a set lands two hours before the case. Be cautious with a candidate who assumes loaner instruments arrive clean, who has only ever run steam and is applying to a department with a scope room, or who describes routinely using immediate use steam sterilization to make loaners fit the schedule. Occasional documented immediate use is reality in most departments. Immediate use as a scheduling tool is a department problem, and you want to know which kind of department this candidate came from.

Tell me about a time the operating room was waiting on a set and you were not comfortable releasing it. What did you do, and what happened?

What this assesses: This is the question the job turns on. Sterile processing works under pressure from people who outrank them in the building, and a technician who cannot say no is the risk you are hiring. Strong answers give a specific set and a specific reason, a wet pack, a failed integrator, a torn wrap, a missing container filter, a load still in dry time, followed by a specific escalation: told the charge nurse or OR coordinator directly, brought in the SPD lead, offered the backup set if one existed. They usually admit it was uncomfortable, because it was. Be cautious with a candidate who cannot recall ever being pushed, which means either very little tenure or a convenient memory, or who describes releasing a questionable set because someone senior told them to and stops the story there. Weight this one heavily. Technical gaps close in a few months of training. This does not.

What shift are you looking for, and can you work second shift, third shift, weekends, holidays, or an on-call rotation if the department runs them? What pay range are you targeting, and how long is the commute?

What this assesses: Sterile processing runs when the OR runs, and the seats that stay open longest are nights and weekends, so ask before you spend three rounds on someone who wants days. Strong answers commit to specific shifts, are direct about hard constraints such as childcare or a second job, say plainly whether call rotation works, and name a pay number consistent with the certification and department experience they described earlier. Be cautious with a candidate who says they are flexible without naming a single constraint, since that answer tends to reverse at the offer stage, or who is targeting a day-shift number against a night-shift posting. Ask every applicant these same nine questions and score them against the same [structured interview](/glossary/structured-interview) rubric rather than advancing whoever interviewed most smoothly, which is what keeps [high-volume recruiting](/glossary/high-volume-recruiting) defensible when you are filling several SPD seats across a system at once.