Nashville State Community College partners with Vanderbilt University Medical Center
The partnership will give current VUMC employees the opportunity to participate in a 12-week training program to earn certification as Healthcare Sterile Processing Association (HSPA) Certified Registered Central Service Technicians.
Nashville State Community College and the Vanderbilt University Medical Center have partnered to provide current employees of the VUMC with the opportunity to participate in a training program that will help them earn certification as a Healthcare Sterile Processing Association (HSPA) Certified Registered Central Service Technician. Nashville State Community College’s role in the partnership is that the college’s Center for Workforce Development and Continuing Education and School of Health Sciences provides classroom instruction, lab instruction, classroom materials, book loans, and laptop support, while Vanderbilt University Medical Center covers the participants’ tuition costs, provides clinical instruction, and pays their employees’ wages during training.
According to an article on Nashville State Community College’s website, Leteya Tsonetokoy, who serves as the program director at VUMC’s Center for Programs in Allied Health, was quoted as saying of the program, “This program is helping to meet a critical workforce need while giving students a direct pathway to a stable, rewarding career.”
Echoing these sentiments, John Cunningham, the director of healthcare partnerships at the Center for Workforce Development and Continuing Education, said, “We have worked closely to sustain an outcome-based program that directly addresses VUMC’s workforce needs.”
The program is a 12-week training program for current employees of VUMC. These employees will participate in the training program to earn certification as a Healthcare Sterile Processing Association (HSPA) Certified Registered Central Service Technician. Upon completing the program and receiving certification, participants will transition into a full time role with VUMC, utilizing their new certification to work as a central sterile processing technician in surgical support.
A central sterile processing technician cleans, disinfects, sterilizes, and assembles surgical instruments for use by other members of the surgical team. Anyone currently working for VUMC is eligible to participate in the program, as well as outside applicants.
For more information about Nashville State Community College, visit the school’s website.