Surgical Technologist, Career Video from drkit.org

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xFka5oxkcSG_NUk608SeljYgy0mdVZis/view?usp=sharing

Video 10: Surgical Technologist, Career Video from drkit.org

https://iqinglesflor.blogspot.com/2022/09/surgical-technologist-career-video-from.html

 

In this interview, a Surgical Technologist discusses her typical day at work, the qualifications needed for the job, the best and worst parts of the job, and advice that can be used by students considering this line of work.

Script:

DESCRIBE YOUR TYPICAL DAY

0:22

My name is Brooke. I work as a surgical

0:25

tech at Springhill Memorial Hospital, and I

0:28

basically set up the room for surgery

0:32

and I pass the instruments to the

0:33

surgeon during surgery.  A typical day at

0:37

work, I usually will come in, I'll check

0:39

my assignments, I will go and make sure

0:42

that my case is full, that I have all of

0:44

the equipment needed to start my surgery.

0:47

Then, I go in my room, I wipe down the

0:49

room, make sure that it is to my likings,

0:53

that everything is prepared.  Then I start

0:55

opening up the case, ... using a sterile

0:57

technique.  I open it up,

1:00

I scrub in, after everything is open, and I

1:05

start preparing my back table and my

1:09

Mayo for surgery. Once surgery has

1:13

started, once the doctor comes in, it’s my

1:15

job to gown him, glove him.  I help him

1:18

drape the patient for surgery and then I

1:22

pass him instruments throughout the

1:25

surgery.  It's my job to anticipate what

1:28

he is going to want next, and what he

1:30

desires next, and at the end of surgery,

1:34

it's my job to help him close.  It's my

1:35

job to dress the patients.  Once he has

1:40

walked out it's my job to take the

1:42

dressings off the patient and clean up

1:45

my field.  On a typical day, I usually do

1:48

anywhere between 4 to 5 cases.  If I'm not

1:52

in a case or if I have a break in

1:54

between cases, then it's my job to go in

1:56

and relieve the other surgical techs for

1:59

a lunch break or either a breakfast

2:01

break.  If I see that everybody has gotten

2:05

a break and I still have some downtime,

2:06

then it's my job to pull cases, which is,

2:10

me getting a cart, and pulling all the

2:13

instrumentation, all the supplies, and

2:15

everything that I need for future cases

2:17

for that day.  My regular schedule that I

2:20

work, I work an 8 hours shift, I work from

2:22

6 o'clock in the morning until 2:30 (two thirty) or

2:25

three o'clock in the evening.  We do have

2:28

to take call, we're responsible for that,

2:30

and I just have to be within 30 minutes

2:34

of the hospital

2:35

in case there is an emergency surgery.

2:37

The stress level of the job in general, I

2:40

would have to say is around, it's a seven

2:44

or eight it just depends on the person,

2:48

it depends on you, you have to have a

2:50

very tough skin to do this job.  My job is

2:57

most stressful when the case that I'm

3:01

working on is very challenging for the

3:05

doctor and for the whole staff, that's

3:07

whenever you really have to put on your

3:10

serious face, you really, you know, have to

3:12

focus on what the doctor is doing.

JOB REQUIREMENTS

3:17

If you are interested in becoming a

3:20

surgical technologist then you should

3:22

look for a two-year program at any

3:26

Community College that is around you.

3:28

You'll usually do three months of

3:31

clinicals where you actually get to

3:32

working at a hospital and you actually

3:35

get a scrub in and do different

3:38

surgeries.  At the end of your course, you

3:40

are required to take a certification

3:42

exam where you pass, you have to pass it

3:45

to become a Certified Surgical

3:48

Technologist.  People who are successful

3:52

in this field

3:53

usually it's... have a good personality,

3:56

thick skin, you have to have very thick

3:59

skin to work in this field.  Somebody who

4:02

does not get flustered too easily, who

4:05

can stay calm and collective in a very

4:08

challenging situation, and who can take a

4:12

joke, and who can let things roll off of

4:15

them really easily, but who also does not

4:18

have a bad temper and let little things

4:21

get to them.

BEST AND WORST PARTS OF THE JOB

4:26

The best part about this job is being able

4:29

to work with surgeons.  You get, you become

4:31

really close with the surgeons that you

4:33

work with, you also get to see something

4:36

different every day.  It might be the same

4:37

surgery, but it's a different person, it's

4:39

a different patient, and you're always

4:42

seeing something new.  Usually the O.R.

4:45

staff is a very close knit, ...O.R. staff...

4:48

and you become more like family than

4:50

coworkers.  The worst part of part of the

4:54

job,

4:55

is standing on your feet for a long

4:57

amount of (a long amount) of time during

4:59

the day.  There are times that you go five

5:05

hours standing on your feet without a

5:08

bathroom break, without a lunch break,

5:10

without a breakfast break, without

5:11

getting a drink of water.  And you know, on

5:15

busy days there's no one out there to

5:17

really give you a break or relieve you.

5:19

And definitely, if you do not like blood

5:25

or guts, that could be one of the bad

5:28

sides of the job.  And also for me, it has

5:31

to be smells.  There are surgeries where

5:34

you do come around people with bad hygiene

5:39

or either they come around with

5:41

something else, that tends to smell and

5:44

that's probably one of the worst things

5:47

I know for me, because I do, I cannot

5:49

tolerate smells really easily.

FINAL ADVICE

5:54

My advice to anybody who wants to become

5:57

a surgical technologist is to do your

6:00

research.  Make sure that you can handle

6:03

all the gore of it.  Also, you can look

6:07

to see if there are job applications or

6:09

job openings for an orderly, which an

6:12

orderly just cleans the room during

6:14

surgery, and that would be a good way for

6:16

you to get experience, and to be around

6:19

the surgeons, and to be around different

6:20

cases, and to be around surgery.