Career Explorer Healthcare support
Human edge, growing
Medical equipment preparers
Prepare, sterilize, install, or clean laboratory or healthcare equipment. May perform routine laboratory tasks and operate or inspect equipment.
Among the most resilient careers: more resilient than 99% of the 831 careers we score. AI exposure is low (the Bureau of Labor Statistics rates it low), and US jobs are projected to change by +10.8% by 2035, much faster than average. The work leans on physical dexterity and ethical judgement.
AI struggles with much of this work, and US employers are expected to hire more people into it than average.
- Median pay (2025)
- $47,700
- Job growth to 2035
- +10.8%
- Openings a year
- 10,700
- People doing it (2025)
- 79,900
- Usual route in
- High school diploma, then moderate on-the-job training
Where people already use AI for this work
- Maintain current knowledge in area of expertise
From Microsoft Research, Working with AI (2025).
Work AI rarely helps with
- Clean medical equipment or facilities
- Monitor equipment operation
- Operate medical equipment
What the work looks like
- Examine equipment to detect leaks, worn or loose parts, or other indications of disrepair.
- Check sterile supplies to ensure that they are not outdated.
- Record sterilizer test results.
- Organize and assemble routine or specialty surgical instrument trays or other sterilized supplies, filling special requests as needed.
- Operate and maintain steam autoclaves, keeping records of loads completed, items in loads, and maintenance procedures performed.
From O*NET 31.0, US Department of Labor.
What the Bureau of Labor Statistics expects
- More of these jobs, as the rising volume of invasive procedures increases hospital demand for medical equipment preparers.
Also known as: Central Sterile Technician (Central Sterile Tech), CRCST (Certified Registered Central Supply Technician), CSS Technician (Central Sterile Supply Technician), CST (Central Service Technician), Central Supply Processing Department Technician (CSPDT), Certified Registered Central Service Technician (CRCST), Equipment Technician (Equipment Tech), Sterile Preparation Technician (Sterile Preparation Tech).
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Sources: US Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections 2025 to 2035; O*NET 31.0; Microsoft Research (2025); Anthropic Economic Index (2026); Eloundou and colleagues (Science, 2024); Felten, Raj and Seamans (2023). How we score. Updated 12 October 2026.