Most sterile processing interviews don't fall apart over technical questions. They fall apart because candidates don't know how to handle uncomfortable information without putting the interviewer on defense. Confronting a hiring manager about Indeed or Glassdoor reviews is the most consistent version of that mistake.
Employee reviews are emotional snapshots left by a specific subset of people at a specific moment. SPD runs second and third shift with lean staffing, high physical demand, and limited visibility to administration. The techs who burn out and leave are far more likely to write about it than the techs who stayed, advanced, and built a career there.
Some facilities encourage new hires to post during onboarding, when the job still feels like an improvement over wherever they came from. That inflates the rating without reflecting working conditions six months in, especially on overnight shift in a high-volume trauma center.
Reviews are a signal. They are not a verdict. They require context.
How much do you need or want this position?
If you're uncertified and trying to land a first hospital-based CSD role so you can sit for your CRCST through IAHCSMM, a department with some operational dysfunction may still be a calculated step forward. If you're credentialed with two or three years of high-volume surgical instrument experience and you're chasing a lead technician position, your leverage is different and your tolerance should be lower.
How do you actually function in a difficult environment?
Some techs operate effectively inside a turbulent department. They stay focused on decontam workflow and sterilization documentation, avoid the politics, and keep building skills and certifications regardless of the noise. Others cannot, and there is no shame in that. The work is demanding enough without absorbing departmental dysfunction on top of it. Know which type you are before you walk into the building.
Asking "I saw some negative reviews online, can you walk me through those?" is almost never the right move.
If the person responsible for the problems you read about is sitting across from you, they will not admit to them.
If they're aware of a previous leadership or culture issue but weren't part of it, they default to talking points about improvement initiatives and positive team culture. Either way, you learn nothing.
The question signals that you arrived skeptical and ready to challenge rather than ready to evaluate the role professionally. In central sterile, where department cohesion and communication directly affect patient safety, that framing is a bad opening. See what else hiring managers flag in sterile processing interview red flags.
"Can you tell me about the strongest parts of your department culture, and also where the team has had to work through challenges in the past and what's changed since then?"
The verbal answer matters less than the texture of it. A supervisor who can speak directly about past staffing challenges, a difficult period during a system merger, or a lead tech situation that required correction is showing you self-awareness, which is exactly the trait you want in the person you'll work under.
You are not committing to anything by being in that interview. You are gathering information to make a decision. Treat it that way. One strong manager can turn a struggling CSD into a functional operation in the same few years it takes a bad one to wreck it. The reviews you read may describe a department that no longer exists, or exactly what you'll walk into on day one of orientation. The only way to tell the difference is to ask the right question and watch what happens.
No. If the person responsible for the problems is sitting across from you, they will not confirm it. If they weren't part of it, they will default to rehearsed language about improvement initiatives. Either way you get nothing useful, and you have introduced distrust into the room before the conversation has moved past introductions.
Ask: "Can you tell me about the strongest parts of your department culture, and also where the team has had to work through challenges in the past and what's changed since then?" It does not assume wrongdoing, it creates space for a self-aware answer, and it signals that you know every hospital-based CSD goes through difficult periods.
Reviews are a signal, not a verdict. A significant portion of negative SPD reviews trace back to a single bad supervisor or lead tech, a period of instability tied to a merger or acquisition, or a staffing crisis. Reviews don't expire when the underlying issue is resolved, so a department can rebuild entirely and still carry a poor rating for years.
Be honest about how you function under pressure. Some techs operate effectively inside a turbulent department, stay focused on decontam workflow and sterilization documentation, avoid the politics, and keep building skills regardless of the noise. Others cannot, and there is no shame in that. Know which type you are before you walk into the building.