Community Sentiment
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AI Automation Index
Will AI Replace Medical Equipment Preparers?
Task-level automation exposure for Medical Equipment Preparers: 16 O*NET tasks scored against their work activities, plus the simulator.
E-E-A-T Verified
Developed & audited by Gini Loh Automation Exposure
25%
weighted task index
16 of 16 tasks scored
Median Salary
$47,700 / year
BLS OEWS, May 2025 — this exact occupation
Employment Level
Medium
77,420 people hold this job — size, not growth
Projected 2025–35
+10.8%
employment change
10,700 openings a year · BLS line item
Pay by state
BLS OEWS publishes 52 state estimates for this occupation. Each is its own survey estimate, not the national median adjusted for local prices.
$28,310 – $61,370
Highest medians
California $61,370
Washington $58,830
Massachusetts $58,580
New York $57,320
Delaware $53,300
Lowest medians
Puerto Rico $28,310
Mississippi $35,160
Alabama $35,800
Louisiana $35,960
New Mexico $36,720
State figures come from the 31-9093 row in the May 2025 state panel. States where the estimate was suppressed or too small to publish are absent.
What the score is made of
Each task is mapped to its work activities, scored for AI automation potential, and weighted by how important those activities are to the job. These are the components.
Automation potential 25%
Importance-weighted mean of the scored tasks. This is the headline index.
Physical work 56%
Share of weighted tasks in hands-on or machine-operating work activities.
Judgment & influence 9%
Share in analysis, decisions, teaching, directing, advising, or caring for others.
Routine administration 8%
Share in documenting, recording, and administrative activities.
Rewritten by O*NET 0%
Share of weighted tasks O*NET rewrote in a recent update. Reported, not folded into the score.
Consequence of error 25/100
Low
O*NET's own rating of how serious an uncorrectable mistake would be here — respondents, not us. Deliberately not in the index: the score measures what AI can do with the task content, and multiplying it by stakes would be our judgment dressed as data.
Constituent Task Mix
16 tasks for this occupation, weighted by work-activity importance. Shares below are of total task weight, not task count.
High exposure (≥ 60% of the task is automatable) 8%
1 tasks
Medium exposure (≥ 35%) 14%
2 tasks
Low exposure (below 35%) 79%
13 tasks
How would you survive?
Move your week away from the high-exposure tasks and toward the ones that need judgment. The simulator recalculates the index as you shift the mix.
Simulate Upskilling →Emerging & rewritten tasks
Tasks O*NET added or rewrote for this occupation in its recent updates (05/2025 – 08/2026), with who proposed them. Additions are not in the scored task inventory — they are new work O*NET is still measuring, so they appear here and nowhere in the index. A Revision replaces a task that is scored, which is why only those move the "Rewritten by O*NET" share.
- New 07/2014 · Incumbent
Order medical supplies for healthcare facilities or laboratories.
Constituent Tasks
#4297 · Core · 30% automatable
Examine equipment to detect leaks, worn or loose parts, or other indications of disrepair.
visual inspection — Medical equipment monitoring needs physical presence
Monitor medical equipment to ensure proper functioning.
#4299 · Core · 55% automatable
Check sterile supplies to ensure that they are not outdated.
data analysis — Records trackable; physical verification of medical stock human
Inventory medical supplies or equipment.
#4294 · Core · 70% automatable
Record sterilizer test results.
data analysis — Vital stats entry; clinical accuracy human-owned
Record vital statistics or other health information.
#4291 · Core · 15% automatable
Organize and assemble routine or specialty surgical instrument trays or other sterilized supplies, filling special requests as needed.
physical manipulation — Hands-on instrument preparation and sterilization
Prepare medical instruments or equipment for use.
#4293 · Core · 12% automatable
Operate and maintain steam autoclaves, keeping records of loads completed, items in loads, and maintenance procedures performed.
physical manipulation — Medical equipment operated hands-on on patients
Clean medical equipment. Operate medical equipment. Maintain medical equipment or instruments.
#4292 · Core · 10% automatable
Clean instruments to prepare them for sterilization.
physical manipulation — Hands-on cleaning of medical equipment
Clean medical equipment.
#4295 · Core · 10% automatable
Disinfect and sterilize equipment, such as respirators, hospital beds, or oxygen or dialysis equipment, using sterilizers, aerators, or washers.
physical manipulation — Hands-on cleaning of medical equipment
Clean medical equipment.
#4302 · Core · 10% automatable
Purge wastes from equipment by connecting equipment to water sources and flushing water through systems.
physical manipulation — Hands-on cleaning of medical equipment
Clean medical equipment.
#18703 · Core · 55% automatable
Maintain records of inventory or equipment usage and order medical instruments or supplies when inventory is low.
data analysis — Records trackable; physical verification of medical stock human
Inventory medical supplies or equipment.
#4301 · Core · 18% automatable
Attend hospital in-service programs related to areas of work specialization.
interpersonal — Attending educational events is a human presence act
Attend educational events to update medical knowledge.
#4298 · Core · 30% automatable
Report defective equipment to appropriate supervisors or staff.
visual inspection — Medical equipment monitoring needs physical presence
Monitor medical equipment to ensure proper functioning.
#4296 · Core · 24% automatable
Start equipment and observe gauges and equipment operation to detect malfunctions and to ensure equipment is operating to prescribed standards.
visual inspection — Medical equipment monitoring needs physical presence
Monitor medical equipment to ensure proper functioning. Operate medical equipment.
#4303 · Supplemental · 10% automatable
Deliver equipment to specified hospital locations or to patients' residences.
physical manipulation — Physical transport of biological materials
Transport biological or other medical materials. Deliver items.
#18702 · Supplemental · 10% automatable
Stock crash carts or other medical supplies.
physical manipulation — Hands-on stocking of medical supplies
Stock medical or patient care supplies.
#4304 · Supplemental · 10% automatable
Assist hospital staff with patient care duties, such as providing transportation or setting up traction.
physical manipulation — Hands-on assistance during medical procedures
Assist practitioners to perform medical procedures. Assist healthcare practitioners during examinations or treatments.
#4305 · Supplemental · 8% automatable
Install and set up medical equipment, using hand tools.
physical manipulation — Instrumentation installation requires hands-on wiring
Install instrumentation or electronic equipment or systems. Position equipment using hand tools, power tools, or heavy equipment.
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How this was scored
- 1. Tasks. O*NET task statements for this occupation, from a release whose newest record is dated 08/2026.
- 2. Work activities. Each task maps to 1–5 Detailed Work Activities; each activity belongs to one of 41 Generalized Work Activities that O*NET rates for importance (1–5) in this occupation.
- 3. Automation potential. Every work activity carries one score for how far current AI can perform it end-to-end. Tasks inherit the mean of their activities.
- 4. Weighting. Task weight = 0.35 + 0.65 × (importance − 1)/4, scaled by how often the task is performed and by 0.7 for Supplemental tasks. Importance is the task's own O*NET rating where it exists (18,369 of 18,838 tasks); the rest inherit their work activities' importance. The index is the weighted mean.
Check: across the 910 occupations where O*NET also rates how far machine speed sets the pace, this index moves opposite to it (Spearman ρ = -0.49). The more a job is paced by equipment, the less of its task content AI can address — the relationship you would expect if the scoring is working.
Sources · O*NET 31.0 (task records to 08/2026) · BLS OEWS May 2025 · BLS projections 2025-2035 · rubric v2.1 · tasks for O*NET, not a forecast
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