About This Career

Maintains a sterile field to provide support for physicians and nurses during endoscopy procedures. Prepares and maintains instruments and equipment. May obtain specimens.

This career is part of the Health Science cluster Support Services pathway.

A person in this career:

• Cleans, disinfects, or calibrates scopes or other endoscopic instruments according to manufacturer recommendations and facility standards.
• Collects specimens from patients, using standard medical procedures.
• Performs safety checks to verify proper equipment functioning.
• Maintains or repairs endoscopic equipment.
• Assists physicians or registered nurses in the conduct of endoscopic procedures.
• Places devices, such as blood pressure cuffs, pulse oximeter sensors, nasal cannulas, surgical cautery pads, and cardiac monitoring electrodes, on patients to monitor vital signs.
• Prepares suites or rooms according to endoscopic procedure requirements.
• Maintains inventories of endoscopic equipment and supplies.
• Attends in-service training to validate or refresh basic professional skills.
• Conducts in-service training sessions to disseminate information regarding equipment or instruments.

Working Conditions and Physical Demands

People who do this job report that:

• You would sit most of the time. There's some walking and standing. You may have to lift and carry things like books, papers or tools weighing 10 lbs. or less.
• Work in this occupation involves use of protective items such as safety shoes, glasses, gloves, hearing protection, a hard hat, or personal flotation devices
• Exposure to pollutants, gases, dust, fumes, odors, poor ventilation, etc.
• Exposed to disease and infections more than once a month through work such as patient care, laboratory work, and sanitation control
• Work in this occupation involves using your hands to hold, control, and feel objects more than one-third of the time
• Work in this occupation requires being inside most of the time
• Work in this occupation involves making repetitive motions more than one-third of the time
• Work in this occupation involves standing more than one-third of the time

Working in this career involves (physical activities):

• Seeing clearly up close
• Speaking clearly enough to be able to be understood by others
• Identifying and understanding the speech of another person

Work Hours and Travel

• Regular working hours and limited travel