Operate, assemble, adjust, or monitor sterilizers, lights, suction machines, or diagnostic equipment to ensure proper operation.

“Operate, assemble, adjust, or monitor sterilizers, lights, suction machines, or diagnostic equipment to ensure proper operation.” is a core task performed by Surgical Technologists. Among the occupation's 16 rated tasks, workers place it 7th by importance (#10 most important). About 100% of workers say it is relevant to their job.

This is a single occupation-specific task statement from O*NET. The figures below describe how central the task is to the job and what independent studies measure about AI and this kind of work — not a prediction that the task will be automated.

Work activities this task rolls up to

O*NET groups concrete tasks into broader work activities shared across many occupations.

• Adjust equipment to ensure adequate performance. in Handling and Moving Objects
• Operate medical equipment. in Controlling Machines and Processes

AI exposure

The OpenAI / Eloundou “GPTs are GPTs” study rates this task E0. No direct exposure — current language models give little or no time savings on this task.

Exposure measures whether a model could meaningfully speed the task up — it is an estimate of overlap with model capabilities, not a measure of whether the work will be done by software. The study's intermediate score (β) for this task is 0.00. Automation potential label: T1.

Other tasks in this occupation

• Maintain a proper sterile field during surgical procedures. · importance 4.9
• Count sponges, needles, and instruments before and after operation. · importance 4.9
• Scrub arms and hands and assist the surgical team to scrub and put on gloves, masks, and surgical clothing. · importance 4.8
• Prepare patients for surgery, including positioning patients on the operating table and covering them with sterile surgical drapes to prevent exposure. · importance 4.8
• Provide technical assistance to surgeons, surgical nurses, or anesthesiologists. · importance 4.8
• Hand instruments and supplies to surgeons and surgeons' assistants, hold retractors and cut sutures, and perform other tasks as directed by surgeon during operation. · importance 4.8
• Prepare, care for, and dispose of tissue specimens taken for laboratory analysis. · importance 4.7
• Wash and sterilize equipment, using germicides and sterilizers. · importance 4.7
• Monitor and continually assess operating room conditions, including patient and surgical team needs. · importance 4.7
• Prepare dressings or bandages and apply or assist with their application following surgery. · importance 4.7
• Clean and restock operating room, gathering and placing equipment and supplies and arranging instruments according to instructions, such as a preference card. · importance 4.6
• Order surgical supplies. · importance 4.5
• Maintain supply of fluids, such as plasma, saline, blood, or glucose, for use during operations. · importance 4.4
• Observe patients' vital signs to assess physical condition. · importance 4.2

See all tasks on the Surgical Technologists page.

Sources for this page

Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.

• O*NET 30.3 U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development
• “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130 OpenAI / academic

Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.

@misc{singulariki-task-1968,
  title  = {Operate, assemble, adjust, or monitor sterilizers, lights, suction machines, or diagnostic equipment to ensure proper operation.},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/tasks/task-1968}
}