Medical Equipment Preparers
Prepare, sterilize, install, or clean laboratory or healthcare equipment. May perform routine laboratory tasks and operate or inspect equipment.
Most important skills
- Critical Thinking
- Monitoring
- Quality Control Analysis
- Active Listening
- Operations Monitoring
- Reading Comprehension
- Speaking
- Troubleshooting
Key knowledge
- Customer and Personal Service
- English Language
- Biology
- Production and Processing
- Public Safety and Security
- Administrative
- Chemistry
- Mechanical
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.
- Disinfect and sterilize equipment, such as respirators, hospital beds, or oxygen or dialysis equipment, using sterilizers, aerators, or washers.
- 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.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Realistic, Conventional, Investigative.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) (43.8% of respondents)
- Related experience
- Over 1 year, up to and including 2 years (39.2%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 6 months, up to and including 1 year (48.5%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 2: Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Medical Equipment Preparers is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | High | Higher on contact with others than 63% of occupations compared | 68% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Low | Lower on dealing with the public than 60% of occupations compared | 33% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Teamwork | High | Higher on teamwork than 68% of occupations compared | 58% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Moderate | Higher on freedom to make decisions than 50% of occupations compared | 52% of surveyed respondents chose “Some freedom” |
| Time pressure | Very high | Higher on time pressure than 97% of occupations compared | 78% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Conflict situations | High | Higher on conflict situations than 70% of occupations compared | 44% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | High | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 65% of occupations compared | 38% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a month or more but not every week” |
| Consequence of error | Very high | Higher on consequence of error than 90% of occupations compared | — |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: very high
- Conflict situations: high
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: high
- Consequence of error: very high
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 3.05%
- Contact with others about half the time: 7.27%
- Contact with others most of the time: 21.25%
- Constant contact with others: 68.44%
n = 16, Incumbent 08/2026
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 13.9%
- Fairly important: 21.25%
- Important: 32.03%
- Very important: 0%
- Extremely important: 32.82%
n = 16, Incumbent 08/2026
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 0%
- Important: 10.85%
- Very important: 30.85%
- Extremely important: 58.29%
n = 16, Incumbent 08/2026
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0%
- Very little freedom: 0%
- Limited freedom: 16.95%
- Some freedom: 51.77%
- A lot of freedom: 31.28%
n = 16, Incumbent 08/2026
Time pressure
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 0%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 3.05%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 18.53%
- Every day: 78.42%
n = 16, Incumbent 08/2026
Conflict situations
- Never: 7.68%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 21.17%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 24.29%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 43.81%
- Every day: 3.05%
n = 16, Incumbent 08/2026
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 10.32%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 15.48%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 37.91%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 30.19%
- Every day: 6.1%
n = 16, Incumbent 08/2026
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 10.85%
- Fairly serious: 7.68%
- Serious: 3.05%
- Very serious: 24.76%
- Extremely serious: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 16, Incumbent 08/2026
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O*NET-SOC 31-9093.00 · SOC 31-9093 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8