Area Services Decontamination Unit (ASDU) trainee technicians go through an extensive training programme, which can take up to two years to complete to become trained technicians.
Three of our trainee technicians, Tracy Smith, Brian Shirra and Stephen Waugh recently received their IDSc Technical Certificates from the Institution of Decontamination Sciences (IDSc), which is the professional body for decontamination services.
The IDSc Technical Certificate Programme is credit-rated at Level 6 on the SCQF by the SQA and its purpose is to introduce trainee technicians to best practice in decontamination services, in line with national policy and guidance by the IDSc.
Achieving this certificate is part of their training programme, combined with inhouse competency training. It’s a highly skilled job, with rigorous training and continuous professional development opportunities. The three trainees are now working towards finishing their inhouse training and becoming trained technicians.
Here is what Tracy, Stephen and Brian had to say about preparing for the course and training at ASDU to become technicians.
What did you enjoy most about your IDSc course?
It was good to get a background understanding of why certain policies and procedures are adopted and incorporated into the BS EN ISO 13485 Standard.
The three of us worked together well as a study group, helping and encouraging each other and we all enjoyed learning different aspects of the job.
What were your biggest challenges during the course?
Studying before the exam and trying to retain as much information as possible.
What do you enjoy most about training at ASDU as technicians?
No two days are the same, we are allocated to different areas within the department and instruments are always evolving so there’s always something new to learn.
About ASDU
ASDU provides sterile services for NHS Forth Valley, reprocessing 1.2 million reusable medical devices each year. Contaminated instruments used during procedures will be returned to ASDU to undergo manual cleaning, automated disinfection, inspection, function testing and packing in the clean room area and then sterilisation to get them ready to be transported back to their destination to be used again.
