#surg techs

[in-the-right]

Anybody else at the Association for Surgical Technologists National Conference?

:D

[in-the-right]

Congrats on the degree what do plan on doing

Thanks!

I'm going to browse this very good market for jobs. I don't really have a set desire--no particular place I have my heart set on working. Heck, I don't even have a favorite specialty yet; all I know is I dislike gynecological cases.

As for options...

Big hospitals are always hiring and would allow for more flexible hours, and it would get me a lot of experience with various/trauma cases.

A surgery center pays more but deals with smaller cases, which means less experience.

Working for a particular physician would also pay more, and I'd get to become comfortable with his/her particular routine. Better hope I like his/her specialty, though!

My lifestyle is particularly fitting of possibly becoming a travel tech--I'm comfortable with traveling and I don't have a relationship to support. Travel tech jobs pay more, too. But I'm sure they require more experience, and I'd like to get more comfortable with my skills and status first.

Labor and delivery is an option I'd rather not have to pursue for several reasons. One is that C-sections and vaginal deliveries are all you'll ever see, and my other surgical skills will atrophy. It's also less of a learned surgical environment; the nurses don't understand how to circulate as well, and the facilities aren't as extensive or convenient as the actual OR. Though I admit, it's a wonderful feeling to bring new life into the world and be able to share that joy with the parents.

If I can't seem to get my foot in the door as a surg tech, I could try sterile processing, which I'm also qualified for. Could be a good way to ease myself in, but I really want to get out there and keep my skills sharp.

I'm going to be focusing on the local area because of my familiarity here and the particularly needy job market, but really, I could go anywhere. I'll probably also look in specific places I'm fond of, like the state where some of my good friends live, the state where my parents live, and some of my favorite states in general.

I have somewhat of an advantage over a lot of others, because my life is untethered to a lot of complications. I don't have a family to support or anybody to stay home for, and I'm a night owl, so I can work odd hours/shifts.

Basically, I'm putting feelers out anywhere and seeing who bites. Money isn't my top priority right now. What I need most is a foot in the door and some experience. What I want most is a place I belong, where people value, appreciate, and respect me. It's tough being a new surg tech. I have the feeling I'm going to become even more of a scapegoat for everything that goes wrong than when I was a student. But hey, if I survived this far, I can survive the future.

I just really hope I find a specialty and people I love.

General surgery is a mixed bag and full of interesting cases. I haven't done much trauma, but I wonder if I'd like the excitement and variety (perhaps with a little more experience). I seem to be really adept at inguinal hernias somehow? Laparotomies and GI cases can get pretty overwhelming, though. The counts are extensive and complicated in the former, and trying not to contaminate on bowel is difficult in the latter.

Gynecology is difficult and non-intuitive to me--so many tissue layers that all look the same, hard to position your back table in a comfortable place, hard to hear the surgeon or pass instruments at that angle... It just throws me off entirely.

Neurosurgery has a lot of jerk surgeons, and the cases are tedious, but I don't have quite enough experience to rule it out completely.

I am also inexperienced at vascular/heart, but it fascinates me, and I wonder if I'll really like it once I get comfortable. There's just something about arterial blood that's super fascinating~

Urology is meh.

ENT is completely foreign to me; so is ophthalmic.

Not sure about plastics, but I'm wondering if the elective cases wouldn't interest me as much, because I feel like they're not as important as life-saving ones.

I may end up liking ortho a lot. The instruments are hard to learn, and the setups can get MASSIVELY complicated, but the roughness/physicality of it all is great. Though the tons of troubleshooting and the whiny surgeons aren't the best. But I've found that as long as the surgeons aren't whining about me, it doesn't bother me so much. I've really come to enjoy the hand and foot cases (but that might be because every podiatrist I've met has been a saint--to the point that I picked one of them to treat my plantar fasciitis!). Not as much the total joints...though I have to admit, wearing the space suit is pretty fun.

Robotic surgery could be okay. I'd just have to get used to doing it. There's a lot of waiting in the middle of the case, and I'm not sure if I'd be grateful of the rest (and chance to sit down, woo!) or bored, if I had to do them a lot.

TL;DR, surgery is hard but worth it, and IDK what I want to do.

[in-the-right]

Today I officially graduated with an Associate of Applied Science in Surgical Technology.

It's been a wild ride! Totally worth all the blood, sweat, and tears. And there truly were all three.

[in-the-right]

So, when you've qualified in your course, what will the job actually be? I'm interested to understand what it is you'll be doing :)

When I graduate from the program, I will have an Associate of Applied Science in Surgical Technology degree, and after I pass the national certification test, I will be a Certified Surgical Technologist. I will be (and have been in my clinicals) setting up the OR for the upcoming surgery (creating a sterile field and organizing sterile instruments and supplies on it), passing the surgeon instruments and supplies in a correct and timely fashion, maintaining sterility, keeping my instruments and supplies organized, counting instruments and supplies to make sure none get left inside the patient, cutting suture, stapling wounds (depending on the policies of the facility), applying dressings, guiding the camera in laparoscopic surgery, holding retractors to keep the wound open, handling specimens from the operation, breaking down the sterile field after the procedure is finished, and sending the instruments to decontamination. In general.