Program Code: SUT.S.AAS • Credit Hours: 60
Description
The Surgical Technology program at Sinclair Community College has been CAAHEP approved since 1998 and offers the opportunity to prepare for a career as a member of a surgical team.
A surgical technologist works together with the surgeon, registered nurse, and anesthesiologist as a member of the surgical team. To ensure proper surgical case management, the surgical technologist prepares and passes all sterile instruments during the surgical procedure while maintaining the sterile field and anticipating the needs of the surgeon.
The surgical technologist helps to meet the needs of patients in the operating rooms of hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, physician offices, diagnostic facilities and other agencies where surgery is performed.
The Surgical Technology program is designed to be completed in five (5) semesters on a full-time basis. The degree program consists of open enrollment courses (general education and division specific) and program specific courses with limited enrollment. The open enrollment courses may be taken prior to entry into the limited enrollment courses. A cumulative GPA of 2.5 is required, as well as a grade of “C” or higher in all program courses.
The program includes both didactic instruction and supervised clinical practice in all areas required by the ARC/STSA (in collaboration with CAAHEP). Supervised clinical practice in area operating rooms include participating in procedures in general surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, ophthalmology, otorhinolaryngology, plastic surgery, urology, orthopedics, neurosurgery, thoracic surgery, cardiovascular, and peripheral vascular surgery.
Note: For students under age 18 there may be restrictions on participating in certain Health Sciences programs. Any student under age 18 must contact the program director/department chair to discuss whether he or she may enroll.
Accreditation
Accredited by CAAHEP (Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs), Sinclair’s Surgical Technology program provides students with the opportunity to work as a Certified Surgical Technologists. In this program, students will be required to complete the academic classroom requirements, but will also have the opportunity to gain valuable supervised clinical practice. As part of the curriculum, the students will rotate through the clinical affiliates as scheduled in the course sequence. The standard surgical rotation case requirements that students must achieve is 120 cases, following the Core Curriculum for Surgical Technology, 6e (CCST6e). Students are required to complete a minimum of thirty (30) cases in General Surgery, twenty (20) of which should be in the First Scrub Role. In addition, students are required to complete a minimum of ninety (90) cases in various surgical specialties. Sixty (60) of those cases should be in the first scrub role and evenly, but not necessarily equally distributed between a minimum of four (4) surgical specialties.
Career Opportunities
A Surgical Technologist helps to meet the surgical needs of patients in the operating rooms in a variety of different environments. Employment may be found in hospital operating rooms, same day surgery centers, labor and delivery units, endoscopy units, and many other settings where invasive therapeutic or diagnostic surgical procedures are performed. Surgical Technologists may also be employed privately by a surgeon or by surgeon group practices that have specialized teams.
