What You’ll Do as a Surgical Technologist

masked tech prepares vital stats machine for surgery

Surgical Technologist At a Glance

What you’ll do: Also called operating room technicians, surgical technologists assist in surgical operations. You’ll prepare operating rooms for surgery; sterilize and supply equipment; prepare patients for surgery, such as washing incision cites; help surgeons and nurses during surgery by passing them instruments and other sterile supplies.

Where you’ll work: Hospitals, physicians’ offices, outpatient care centers, dentists’ offices

Degree you’ll need: Postsecondary certificate or associate degree

Average annual salary: $60,610

What Does a Surgical Tech Do?

Surgical technologists play a crucial role in the operating room by assisting surgeons and their teams. Their responsibilities include passing sterile instruments and supplies, setting up surgical equipment such as robotics, and holding organs in place during procedures. Additionally, surgical technologists may handle specimens for laboratory analysis, ensuring efficient and safe surgical processes.

Job Environment

Most surgical technologists work as members of a healthcare team alongside physicians and surgeons, registered nurses, surgical assistants, and other workers in a hospital. They all wear scrubs while in the operating room, in addition to masks and other preventative shields. As a surgical technologist, you’ll be on your feet, and you may be exposed to unpleasant sights, smells and materials.

In addition to helping prepare for and carry out surgeries, you may also prepare, care for, and dispose of specimens taken for lab analysis. With patients, you may apply dressings and help ease them into recovery rooms.

Life in the operating room (OR) can be hectic and demanding, with life-threatening emergencies often occurring despite hours of careful planning and prep. As a key member of the team, the surgical technologist must anticipate the needs of the patient and the surgeon to ensure that each operation goes as smoothly as possible.

Here are the tasks a surgical technologist must perform and be prepared for with every surgery:

Preoperative: Sterile Hands

The surgical technologist is the first person to enter the OR before surgery. During this preoperative phase, the surgical technologist adheres closely to the following routine:

Carefully dons their operating room attire, including scrubs
Begins to prepare and sterilize the room
Gathers all of the equipment and surgical tools that the surgery requires
Sterilizes, counts, and carefully arranges them

Intraoperative: The Third Hand

During the intraoperative phase of the surgery, surgical technologists are still responsible for maintaining the sterility of the OR, but they also effectively become a “third hand” to the surgeon and surgeon’s assistant during the procedure and perform the following tasks:

Help prepare medications and administer them to the patient
Assist in retracting tissues from the patient
Passes the surgical tools to the surgeon and surgical assistant during the operation

At any time during an operation, if a tool is missing or contaminated, the delay or resulting infection could cost a patient his or her life. That is why surgical technologists must be diligent and thorough at all times.

Postoperative: Tying Things Up

As the operation concludes, surgical techs are responsible for the following:

Counting all the tools and instruments used during surgery to ensure nothing is left behind in a patient
Suture the incision and apply disinfected dressings to the area
Dispose of items such as needles and gauze
Maintain OR’s sterile field until patient is in recovery ward

Thinking-On-Your-Feet: Cell Phones in the OR

While surgical techs aren’t expected to work miracles, they must be able to think quickly on their feet in emergency situations. During a recent hospital blackout and emergency generator failure, one quick-thinking surgical tech, with the help of the patient’s family member, rounded up enough cell phones to illuminate the OR while surgeons completed an emergency appendectomy.

Career Advancement

Certification can help a surgical technologist in finding the right position, and is a good way to advance your education. You can earn various types of certification in classroom, online, and prep programs, such as:

Certified Surgical Technologist, through the National Board of Surgical Technology and Surgical Assisting
Tech in Surgery—Certified, through the National Center for Competency Testing
Certified Operating Room and Surgical Technician (CORST), through the National Healthcareer Association

As advancements in technology have made surgery safer, and as the aging population requires care, surgery technologists will be ensured steady work. Prospects are best for those who’ve completed an accredited education program and who maintain their professional certification.

With experience and additional education, surgical technologists can advance to become surgical assistants, where they will have more responsibility and command higher salaries. Surgical technologists also occasionally advance to other healthcare occupations, such as physician assistants or registered nurses.

Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2023 Occupational Employment Statistics; Surgical Technologists