What is a Surgical Technologist?

     A surgical technologist is an allied health care professional who is specifically trained to assist the surgeon throughout the entire surgical procedure and who functions as a parto of the surgical team to ensure that each case is conducted under optimal conditions, ensuring that the procedure is performed as efficiently and safely as possible.  The surgical technologist is the master of asepsis in the operating room and is specifically trained in the practice of sterile technique that is utilized to lower the risk of the patient contracting a postoperative infection during their surgical procedure.

     The surgical technologist most commonly functions in the sterile role as a member of the surgical team that is scrubbed in at the sterile field that is created around the surgical patient.  In this sterile role the surgical technologist performs a broad range of tasks that assist in expediting the surgical procedure.  These tasks include:

• performing a surgical hand scrub and donning a sterile gown and gloves

• preparing all instrumentation and supplies that will be utilized during the procedure

• labeling and preparing all medications and fluids that will be utilized

• performing all the counts of instruments and sponges

• draping the surgical patient with sterile drapes

• assisting other sterile team members in donning their sterile gown and gloves

• handing instruments and supplies to the surgeon and the other members of the surgical team during the procedure while anticipating their needs throughout the case.

• Caring for surgcial specimens obtained during the surgical procesure

• holding retractors, suctioning, and sponging in order to expose the surgical site

• cutting suture

• applying sterile dressings upon completion of the procedure

     The surgical technologist also performs tasks in the unsterile role when they are not scrubbed in as a member of the surgical team at the sterile field including:

• preparing the operating room by gathering necessary unsterile equipment and supplies

• opening sterile equipment and supplies onto the sterile field

• assisting in the positioning of the surgical patient for the procedure

• assisting in performing the surgical skin prep of the operative site

• participating in the turnover of the operating room upon completion of the surgical procedure, cleaning all surfaces in order to prevent cross-contamination from one case to the next

• caring for soiled instruments upon conclusion of the case

     Education to become a surgical technologist is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP).  There are currently two accredited surgical technology programs located in Nebraska.  These two programs are Nebraska Methodist College in Omaha and Southeast Community College in Lincoln, who offers their program face-to-face and also online nationwide.  Both of these programs are 18 months long, providing graduates whith an Associates of Applied Science Degree in Surgical Technology upon completion.  Surgical technology education includes classroom lecture, lab practice in a mock surgery settings and clinical rotations in actual operating room situations.

     A certified surgical technologist is a surgical technologist who has graduated from a CAAHEP accredited surgical technology program and has passed the national certification exam administered by the National Board of Surgical Technology and Surgical Assisting (NBSTSA), proving that they have a minimum knowledge base that allows them to provide a certain standard of patient care.  Certification of the surgical technologist must be renewed every four years by either accruing sixty continuing education credits or by retaking the certification exam.