My Experience as a Surgical Technologist

Some of you out there might be thinking about choosing a career in the surgical technology field. I have chosen that path myself, but unfortunately didn't complete the course. I was close to completing the course when I decided to abandon the program due to personal decisions. I don't consider myself a quitter, or think of it as a waste of my time. I think of it more as a learning experience. Not that I'm trying to persuade anyone from perusing this field a career path, I'm just trying to inform you of the great responsibilities that comes with it.

This article is based on my own personal experiences and schooling. Every school has their own methods in approaching this major. The school I attended offered an associates degree and was 2 years in length. Before you could even begin the program you had to attend an observation. What this meant was sitting in on an actual surgical procedure and observed the surgical technologist role. For those who don't know what the obligations of surgical technologist are, I will attempt to explain. A surgical technologist or "scrub nurse," is the member of the surgical team whose duties include: prepping the operating room pre-op, passing instruments to the surgeon, and putting everything away post-op. I will get into those duties more in-depth later on. If you can't stand the sight of blood, then this isn't the field for you. I really wasn't scared of the thought of seeing human organs. I was more apprehensive, because I didn't know how I would react. Luckily I was fine. Especially since I got thrown-in on such an intense operation. It was a gastric bypass repair. I know some people my think it is gross or disgusting, but it is an amazing sight that not everyone gets to witness in-person.

Besides the general courses every college student has to take, I will list some of the courses I have taken and why they are necessary. Anatomy and physiology 1 & 2. You need to understand what all the body systems are and how they work. If you where in on an operation and you didn't know what you were looking at, you would look pretty stupid. Pharmacology, because as a surgical technologist you might have to measure and dispense medications. Medical terminology taught how to combine the proper words to make procedures, diseases, and other terms. One subject that everyone seemed to despise was microbiology. I thought it was quite intriguing, because it taught how things work at a cellular level. So, if you like to learn about bacteria and viruses this might be the subject for you. Pathology was offered to the curriculum after I was finished. It would have been nice to take that subject, but I guess that's unfortunate for me. The rest of the course was based around the actual responsibilities of the surgical technologist. Introduction to surgical technology, minor surgeries, major surgeries, and surgical review were some of the class I had to take. All those classes covered the actual procedures, the instruments utilized, and how the surgical technologist relates to those procedures. These classes didn't just include lecturing, it involved preparing for an actual surgical procedure. I'm going to list all the hands-on responsibilities we had to practice in class.

- Scrubbing
- Gloving and gowning
- Setting up the operating table
- Draping
- Counting instruments
- Instrument passing
- Post-op routine

When practicing you have to be so meticulous to prevent contamination as much as possible. If an area is contaminated you risk infecting the patient and their life.

After finishing the courses at the school you had to intern at the hospital. Before we could even perform the surgical technologist's duties we spent roughly a week of just observing surgeries and practicing. Even though I didn't complete the program, I'm happy that I got to experience things not everybody get to experience on a daily basis, such as witnessing the human brain. I don't regret it one bit.

The instructors and some of the hospital staff were stern. I totally respect their perspective, because this isn't a field where many mistakes can be made. Be certain if this is your aspiration.