Surgical Assistant

A surgical assistant plays an important role when it comes to surgeries.  Although he is not as important as the surgeon, a surgical assistant, otherwise known as a surgical technologist, is also instrumental in ensuring the success of an operation.  Without a surgical assistant, neither pre-operative and post-operative duties for the proper care of a patient are facilitated nor intra-operative duties like hemostasis, exposure and closure will be seen to.

A surgical tech might work under the direct supervision of the people that comprise the medical hierarchy but he is a very necessary role player in the whole picture of an operation.  He sees to the proper assembly of the equipment that are either non-sterile or sterile and makes sure that they are operating well.  He then prepares the patients for the surgical procedure by treating the incision sites to the necessary preparatory procedures.  These procedures include shaving, washing and disinfecting the sites.

An all-around-guy, the surgical first assistant is also the one who transports the patients to the operating room and positions them on the operating table.  He also checks on the patients' vital signs and charts.  Being the surgical tech, he is also the one who will aid in putting on the sterile gloves and gowns on the surgical team.

During the operation, the surgical first assistant will be the one to pass the necessary instruments and all the other sterilized supplies to the surgeons and his other assistants.  He helps in cutting sutures, holding retractors and in counting the supplies that were used in the operation.  

A surgical tech is even the one responsible for the preparation, care and disposal of the specimens needed for the laboratory analysis.  He aids on putting on the dressings.  A surgical assistant could even operate the lights, suction machines or the sterilizers that are needed in the operation.  He even helps in operating the diagnostic equipment.  After the operation, a surgical technologist helps in bringing to the recovery room the patients who were operated upon.  They will then clean and replenish the stocks in the operating room.

Given the range of duties of surgical assistants, job opportunities for them are expected to increase all throughout 2014.  Because the training programs for becoming a surgical technologist lasts only for a period of 9 to 24 months, many individuals are now aiming to become surgical techs. Those who will go through these programs will be able to get associate degrees, certificates or diplomas.  While most of these surgical technologists are hired by hospitals, employment growth for them means being hired by other employers as well.  These additional employers include care centers for outpatients, physicians' clinics as well as surgical centers that are ambulatory.