first assistant, do u have them?

It amazes me that these surgeons assistants are employed everywhere. However my beef is not with or techs, or gps or foreign doctors, its that an individual who today may be serving burgers can after a mere 16 weeks take part in a surgical procedure which for the rest of us comes after years of training and exams. What next?

Carcha,

I have heard of no programs like this...where which a lay person off the street could train for 6 weeks to work doing surgery???

Could you give us more information? because I have never heard of such a thing.

All FA programs, and even CST programs require much more education than this........

Originally posted by carcha

It amazes me that these surgeons assistants are employed everywhere. However my beef is not with or techs, or gps or foreign doctors, its that an individual who today may be serving burgers can after a mere 16 weeks take part in a surgical procedure which for the rest of us comes after years of training and exams. What next?

Those are not surgical assistants, they are surgical/or techs. Check the Eastern Virginia Medical School web page regarding their Surgical Assistant program...it's 2 years long, not 16 weeks; next year, it'll be a Masters program. We use them a lot in VA and they are paid handsomely (av'g salary is ~$75000 per annum).

it is 16 weeks, I spoke to someone who has taken it. She was a health care aide and now "assists". This is in a european country, not the USA or Canada. Its a joke.