What Surgical Technicians do Inside the Operating Room
Surgical technicians are trained personnel in the operating room that provide pre, intra and postoperative care to patients who are about to undergo surgery. They are basically all around personnel who know how the operating rooms protocols and procedures. Without their knowledge, a lot of things can go wrong throughout any surgery. They work to ensure that the operation goes without a hitch. The surgeon may be responsible for taking care of the patient’s body, but it is the surgical technician who controls the overall environment and ensures that everyone in the operating room can do their jobs wonderfully.
Surgical technicians are educated in schools accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs. When he graduates from schools with proper accreditation, he becomes qualified to become a certified surgical technician. Having a certificate helps raise his chances in finding an employer to work for. New graduates can look for hospitals that support graduate programs and can look forward to further trainings in the actual field so they can earn a better salary.
Surgical technicians need physical strength, flexibility, critical thinking abilities and must have a good grasp of any procedure they are about to prepare for. They can enter the sterile field and assist the surgeon directly. Those who stand beside the surgeon and pass instruments are called first assist technicians. These are technicians with a lot of operating room experience and are the right hand of the surgeon. A highly skilled first assist does not need a surgeon to say the next step of the surgery; he just needs the surgeon’s open hand to anticipate the next instrument for use. Surgical technicians who stay outside the field are called circulating technicians. They function specifically to assist outside of the operating area. While a surgery is going on, anyone not wearing sterile gowns and gloves are considered a possible source of contamination and no one inside the sterile area can turn there backs on it, or touch anything that is not encased in sterile packaging. This strict conformity to sterility allows patients to have lesser chances of gaining infection. The circulating surgical technician is considered a “dirty” or unsterile part of the team, but he can help the sterile people by opening sterile packages.
These packages are often wrapped in two coats. The first coat is unsterile, the second coat is sterile. Without touching the inside of the wrapping, the circulating technician opens the package and drops the sterile item into the sterile field. Circulating technicians also function by counting the number of items used before, during and after the surgery. Counting throughout the operation ensures that no item is left inside the patient’s body. The circulating technician is the one who prepares the patient, the instruments and the room before usage, while the first assist technician cleans and disinfects the instruments after surgery and makes sure that the operating room is clean after use.