Surgical Technology @ Northland Community & Technical

Welcome to Northland Community & Technical College in East Grand Forks, MN.

Our Surgical Technology program prepares students to assist the surgeon, anesthesiologist, and professional registered nurse as an integral member of the direct patient care team before, during, and after surgical intervention.

The graduate practitioner will possess the knowledge base and technical skills to demonstrate the principles of sterile technique, demonstrate the invasive procedural steps necessary to correct anatomical pathology, prepare equipment, instruments, supplies, and sutures used for surgical procedures, assist the surgeon throughout the operative procedure, incorporate values and attitudes congruent with professional standards and ethics, and perform in the role of first scrub, second assistant, supervised circulator, and first assistant.

Graduates of the program are eligible to take the National Certifying Examination for Surgical Technologists to become a Certified Surgical Technologist (CST). The exam is administered by the National Board of Surgical Technology and Surgical Assisting (NBSTSA), the credentialing organization. The NBSTSA awards a certificate, after successful completion of the examination; the individual will be nationally certified.

EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES

Employment for surgical technologists is expected to grow much faster than the average for all occupations through the year 2014, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (2006). The number of surgical procedures is expected to grow as the population ages.

Hospitals will continue as the primary employer of surgical technologists, although much faster employment growth is expected in offices and clinics of physicians, including ambulatory surgical centers.

Surgical technologists held about 71,000 jobs in 2000. Almost three-quarters are employed by hospitals. Others are employed in clinics and surgical centers, and in the offices of physicians and dentists who perform outpatient surgery. A few, known as private scrubs, are employed by surgeons who have special surgical teams, such as those for organ transplantation.

Technologists advance by specializing in a particular area of surgery, such as neurosurgery or open heart surgery. They also may work as circulating technologists, the "unsterile" members of the surgical team who prepare patients, assist with anesthesia, obtain and open packages for "sterile" persons to remove the contents during procedures. They may also interview patients before surgery, keep a written account of the surgical procedure, and answer the surgeon's questions about the patient during surgery.

With additional training, some technologists advance to first assistants, who help with retracting, sponging, suturing, cauterizing bleeders, and closing and treating wounds. Some surgical technologists manage central supply departments in hospitals, or take positions with insurance companies, sterile supply services, and surgical equipment firms.

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