Surgical Assisting

This course will build upon the student’s foundation of sterile technique and disinfection. Students will gain knowledge of the different types of technologies used in the surgical setting. They will learn basic technologist skills such as preoperative case planning, gowning, and gloving, and setting up the sterile field for a surgical procedure. An overview of perioperative patient care is given along with patient positioning techniques for procedures. Students will have hands on practice of surgical draping, instrument passing, instrument counts, and surgical dressing application. It will provide an overview of surgical specimen management and the importance of proper processing of specimens. This course will also provide an overview of environmental hazards in the operating room, along with the surgical technologist's role during an all-hazards preparation. Lab practice and shadowing continues.

In this course, students will continue to build upon their foundation of aseptic/sterile technique. Students will focus on both intraoperative and postoperative case management techniques and will begin to learn how to anticipate the needs of the surgeon. Students will gain knowledge on advanced skill sets, such as hemostasis, surgical exposure, and the placement of drains and catheters. Stages of wound healing along with wound closure devices will be discussed in detail. Students will gain knowledge of basic General, Orthopedic, and OBGYN surgical procedures, along with the instrument trays, supplies and equipment required to perform those specific procedures. Anatomy and physiology principles are applied. Students learn to take a wholistic view of procedures, including anesthesia. Lab and clinical shadowing are included in the scrub role.

This course will introduce the student to the various imaging modalities within a contemporary healthcare setting. Students will gain an understanding of the patient’s pathway from diagnosis to treatment. Various allied health specialties such as cardiac catheterization, CT, MRI, radionuclide imaging, sonography, women’s imaging, radiology, and radiation oncology will be discussed. Cross-sectional anatomy will be covered as it relates to a patient’s diagnosis.

This course provides the student with an introduction to the fundamentals of surgical assisting in both a first and second role. The students will gain an understanding of the roles and responsibilities within the SA’s scope of practice, along with a comprehension of the history of the surgical first assistant profession. The course will provide the students with an opportunity to apply their learned skills and extend their clinical skills to include all phases of surgical patient perioperative care. Emphasis will be placed on preoperative skills such as skin preparation and surgical draping, intraoperative skills which include retraction, hemostasis, tissue handling, and tissue approximation techniques, and postoperative management such as application of dressings and immobilization devices. This course will include a large Lab component that will include 2 hours of instructed Lab time with Faculty, and 2 hours of independent Lab practice time minimum per week.

This course expands the student’s procedure knowledge to include basic and advanced procedures in all the surgical specialties. Anatomy and physiology are applied, along with the discussion of pathologies associated with each surgical procedure. Emphasis will be placed on all phases of surgical preparation, along with the procedural steps and necessary instrumentation and supplies required. Lab practice and clinical shadowing will enable the students to demonstrate appropriate surgical case setups for the different surgical specialty procedures. Students will be able to identify the fundamentals of these procedures and will then be able to apply them in the clinical settings.

This course will introduce the students to the fundamentals of the role of a surgical assistant in a surgical
clinic practice. It will provide an overview of the office flow and the skills required to support the
practice; including skills required to prepare patients for an office exam, assisting on office procedures,
and completing the appointment. Students will gain insight on the required steps that are taken to move
from scheduling the surgical procedure in the clinic to performing the surgical procedure in the
operating room. Emphasis will be placed on learning to navigate through the EPIC electronic medical
records system to ensure a smooth transition from student to employee. Skills lab practice and clinical
observation for various specialties will be included.

This course focuses on the preparation of students for their national certification examination for surgical technology. This class consists of cumulative review of content and clinical concepts in surgical technology that they have learned throughout their progression through the Surgical Technology academic content. We will have multiple practice exams, discuss different study techniques, and will go through the breakdown of content on the certification examinations.  

This course expands the knowledge of general and specialty surgical procedures by having the student take a wholistic approach to the procedure by incorporating pathophysiology, diagnostic interventions, infection prevention, along with surgical techniques.  During this course, the student will function more independently in the first-scrub role, with emphasis on critical thinking, communication, teamwork, and problem solving.