To get a better idea of which careers are the most stressful, CareerCast examined 200 professions to compile its latest Jobs Rated report.
CareerCast weighed 11 factors to rank the most stressful jobs: travel; deadlines; working in the public eye; competitiveness; physical demands; environmental conditions; hazards encountered; the life of oneself or others at risk; meeting and interacting with customers or the public; and the potential for job growth.
Based on the 11 factors evaluated to determine the CareerCast’s jobs rated stress rankings, these 10 are the least stressful for workers:
Stacy says
This is so disrespectful to the people in these positions. First off, this garbage should not even be allowed to circulate. Second off, apparently no one who participated in this study ever spoke to anyone from sterile processing. I would love to see those that deemed this study accurate step into decontam for just a portion of a day so they can see just how stressful it truly is! They can be elbow deep in hot water with human tissue and other bioburden floating around them. They can hear the OR supervisor complain and fuss about instrument turn over time and the need to rush sterilize a tray so the next case can go on.
The demands given to the SPD techs throughout their day are not for the weak or faint at heart. Especially when they are working with only one washer because the other is down for the third time that week, or the cart wash is broken….again! I’m calling out who ever participated in this study and telling them this is bullshit! Without sterile processing, the rest of the hospital can not function. SPD is the foundation of ALL hospitals. Please give these hard working individuals the respect they deserve and earn every day they step foot into their department.
FYI, I am not in a sterile processing job so for those of you who think I am going on like this because I’m feeling some type of way about my job, you are wrong. I am a healthcare worker who sees these great teammates of mine busting their behinds day in and day out for a very thankless job.
Lisa frafra says
This is ludacris. Turnovers, angry docs, shady scrub techs, broken machinery and EXTREMELY TOXIC LEADERSHIP!!!😢 I’ve had several jobs as well as being a biological, chemical and nuclear soldier/veteran and this is by far the most stressful job I’ve ever had.
Quinton says
25 years plus in SPD/OR TECH. SPD can get very overwhelmed by case load,lack of staff and poor leadership, quick turnovers for cases that requires time and the Surgeon getting upset, not knowing the process it takes to turnover. That can be very stressful.
Sarah Dixon says
This is a joke! Maybe if you are in a hospital that is not a trauma center! Deadlines are crazy, in some states like VT, there are few trauma centers and hospitals that process scopes and items for several other out patient facilities. It is non-stop.. There is a huge turn over, there are traveling Techs it is so stressful!
Monica says
Clearly the person responsible for this work if fiction has never set foot inside a Sterile Processing department! Nor apparently has he spoken with any real Sterile Processing techs.
It is not rocket science to be sure, however there is a lot of minute detail to remember. Plus it is a very thankless job! Hospital personnel want their instruments turned around immediately (not possible) and if ANYTHING goes wrong with instrumentation, AT ANY POINT, no matter who’s fault it actually is, the Sterile Processing department gets the blame! We work in a hot, steamy environment year round trying to keep our hospitals & offices running, (something they could NOT do without us by the way), we expose ourselves DAILY to any number of pathogens, there is a LOT of heavy lifting, and we do it ALL under the clock so our OR’s and offices can have their instruments back in a timely manner so THEY can continue to function. We get literally screamed at by some personnel who don’t think we work fast enough. We lose personnel CONSTANTLY, because new people never expect it to be a demanding as it is, and then there’s ignorant articles like THIS that make it seem like it’s a cake-walk!
You sir, have done NOTHING to help the Sterile Processing industry find and keep quality people. If anything you’ve now only made all of our lives more difficult. Stick to articles you actually know something about!