In Surgical tech. program and not too happy.

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Specializes in babysitting.

I'm in the Surgical tech program at my school and I can't say I'm really happy. I didn't realize it would be so much attention to detail. Everything has to remain sterile. Even if you drop your hands, you're contaminated. Instructor makes everyone regown and close glove over the simplest of errors. Besides, the instructor is a very arrogant and have a proud spirit. Listening to him speak, he sounds as if he's a neurosurgeon or something. He always tells stories about how he was working in the OR and some surgeon or first asst. messed something up and wah lah, he to the rescue.

I kind of wish now that I would have gone into either the ultrasound or radiation therapy because it would've been so much easier. We have to sit in class all day long, instead of them having the schedule broken up in sections a little more especially for those of us who work. Instead of keeping students in class 8 hours straight, why not do 3 hours today, 3 tomorrow and 2 the next day. I looked at the schedule in the soft cover catalogue the schools gives out, but the teacher changed the schedule.

Then there is so much to learn in such a short period of time. I feel like I'm in medical school. Not only do you have the lab component, but you have to learn more than 100 different instruments, 100 different types of surgical procedures and the foundations of surgical technology for a total of 4 components. You stand on your feet all day when you start working, and worse yet all the jobs available where I live are part time and must have 5+ years of exp. which I have no experience.

Then I had to go thru all this rigamarole to get in. I had to have all my vaccines done again as I had no immunity to them despite having hundreds of shots as a kid. I have to have a $150 background check done, $200 for books, $$ for profession membership, $$ for student etc all for a total of around $1500.

Plus I have to drive so far to the campus, which wouldn't be so bad if construction was not going on all the time that I have to get there. I was stuck in traffic really bad one day and got yelled at in class for being 2 minutes late. I have myself 1.5 hours to get there where it normally takes 40 minutes if traffic is not that busy. Then he says, I must give myself more time, when I had. Others come in late to class and he says nothing to them. Geez. I don't know what i'm going to do other than stick it out and get my $1500 worth. btw, surgical tech at this school does not even have it's own lab or room, we have to share with other health departments. I figure, this school has had this program in existence for ages and yet have no room for them. They treat it like an after thought program whereas nursing, ultrasound, resp. therapy and such get treated better with better equipment and facilities.

I know I'm venting, but maybe this will help someone out there contemplating going into surgical tech. I wouldn't do it again. I have to wake up early to get there, and I'm not getting any sleep. The pay only starts at $16-$19 an hour for all the sacrifice and hard work. I wish I had made other plans. :uhoh3:

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Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.

Is this a joke?

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Specializes in babysitting.
Is this a joke?

No, it's actually true, but I was just venting because I'm kind of frustrated right now.

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Specializes in CEN, CPEN, RN-BC.
Is this a joke?

Obvious troll is obvious?

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Read previous threads.

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your frustrations are understandable. did you research the education and clinical rotations you would be expected to attend?

every 'health care' field is essentially like that. you have clinicals which are separated from classroom experience, and a lot of info is thrown at you to study. it is a lot of self study/self teaching/personal responsibility to understand it. clincals require you to perform the procedure correctly, you must maintain the sterile field at all times.

your experience is very much like my nursing school experience. a lot of info is given at one time, and you are expected to study for 2-4 hours every day in order to understand and discuss it. i did know what the education and clinicals entailed though.

i also commute 45 minutes for my program, so i wake up at 5:00 am everyday except for clinical days, where i wake up at 4:00 am.

health care fields are tough, but they have to be.

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Hello there...

First of all,,,,I understand you are venting and this is definitely the place to do it. I feel your pain and hope it gets better

2nd,,, FYI, all those things you are going through are universal in healthcare programs. I am sure they nit pick in ultrasound and radiographics too. (I imagine your technique in ultrasound must be tops coz they want to make sure you can pick up any irregularities with a fetus etc...in radiographics,,,am sure they emphasize safety with the xrays and making sure you are aware of it at all times)

In surgical tech....of course sterile field will be over emphasized. Think about it if you were the patient lying on the table getting a quadruple bypass, and some tech (or surgeon or nurse) is completely blase about sterility....then you end up with a ranging infection r/t cross contamination.........etc etc....

Anyways,,,,Feel free to vent as long as you remember that any good healthcare program MUST insist on the students mastering the basics otherwise they should be shut down...

I remember the stress of trying to insert a foley cath completely sterile with the instructor all over my personal space...talk about stress...

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Specializes in babysitting.
your frustrations are understandable. did you research the education and clinical rotations you would be expected to attend?

every 'health care' field is essentially like that. you have clinicals which are separated from classroom experience, and a lot of info is thrown at you to study. it is a lot of self study/self teaching/personal responsibility to understand it. clincals require you to perform the procedure correctly, you must maintain the sterile field at all times.

your experience is very much like my nursing school experience. a lot of info is given at one time, and you are expected to study for 2-4 hours every day in order to understand and discuss it. i did know what the education and clinicals entailed though.

i also commute 45 minutes for my program, so i wake up at 5:00 am everyday except for clinical days, where i wake up at 4:00 am.

health care fields are tough, but they have to be.

we will not know where we will be assigned for clinicals for a few months yet. to my understanding, we have to pass all 4 components first before we get a clinical assignment. i heard a rumor that they actually lost quite a bit of clinicals because of students in the past making mistakes. but, if any component is failed, one would have to come back next year, the option if available. as a matter of fact, in lecture there were several students over from the previous class who failed a component. as of today, only 1 of about 6 of those students have come back, the others just quit. i just have to get in the groove of things, and i have health problems like high testosterone levels, sleep apnea, depression, low cortisol, super high crp levels, porphyria, and hypertension, and i require a certain amt of sleep everyday. and like i stated earlier, the teacher had changed the schedule from what the catalog showed the hours would be. thanks for understanding though.

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Specializes in Trauma Surgery, Nursing Management.

Oh dude, if you are not happy NOW, you most certainly won't be happy when you actually start working in the OR. YES, sterility is king in the OR, YES, you have to drop scrub if you contaminate yourself, and YES, you have to learn all of the instruments. Your instructor is being hard on you now so that you will understand the importance of maintaining sterility in the OR.

What do you think will happen if you contaminate yourself or your back table during a total joint procedure and that pt gets an infection in the joint? The hardware will have to be removed (2nd surgery for the pt), a new antibiotic spacer will be put in place, the pt will have to heal from that along with having to take oral abx, then new hardware will have to be put in (3rd surgery for the pt), and then the surgeon must only HOPE that the joint is stable enough to heal properly. This is only one example that comes to mind. There are countless others.

If attention to detail is not something you are good at, then quit the program. It sounds like you are unhappy about several components of the program. Go into something else. To do ST, you MUST be vigilant, you MUST have the pt's well being at the front of your mind, and you MUST stand on your feet in order to help the surgeons, who are also standing on their feet all day.

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Just out of curiosity how much research did you do before applying for this program? If you just listened to what the school told you (This career has excellent growth potential! You'll make so much money!) then I can see how you're in this mess.

The first thing I did before applying for the program at my local hospital was call all the hospitals and surgical centers in the area and find out if they use surgical techs, what the pay rate was, the hours and what school they would favor hiring from.

Another thing that worries me is you say you can't tolerate being in class for such a long time then how would you be able to stand being in the OR for 10-12 hours doing a tense but tedious surgery?

And last but, not least what makes you think radiation therapy or ultrasound tech would be any easier? Those programs are just as long and just as intense if not more than surg tech.

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Specializes in babysitting.
Hello there...

First of all,,,,I understand you are venting and this is definitely the place to do it. I feel your pain and hope it gets better

2nd,,, FYI, all those things you are going through are universal in healthcare programs. I am sure they nit pick in ultrasound and radiographics too. (I imagine your technique in ultrasound must be tops coz they want to make sure you can pick up any irregularities with a fetus etc...in radiographics,,,am sure they emphasize safety with the xrays and making sure you are aware of it at all times)

In surgical tech....of course sterile field will be over emphasized. Think about it if you were the patient lying on the table getting a quadruple bypass, and some tech (or surgeon or nurse) is completely blase about sterility....then you end up with a ranging infection r/t cross contamination.........etc etc....

Anyways,,,,Feel free to vent as long as you remember that any good healthcare program MUST insist on the students mastering the basics otherwise they should be shut down...

I remember the stress of trying to insert a foley cath completely sterile with the instructor all over my personal space...talk about stress...

yes, thank you! it is advice like yours that will help me through. this is the first time i'm going into the heath field and i guess i'm just wet behind the ears to all of this. i guess i really don't have a problem with maintaining a sterile field. i can do that. i just have a problem with the boot camp style way he is teaching it. i really don't like people yelling at me over something, and when someone else does it, it seems to go unnoticed. i think i'm really having issues with fairness more than anything in this too.

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I kind of wish now that I would have gone into either the ultrasound or radiation therapy because it would've been so much easier.

Wrong kiddo. Ultrasound nor Radiation would be easier. They would be equally difficult, if not more difficult. Tons of Chem knowledge is needed for Radiation and let me tell you, the Ultrasound program is WAY more strict than the Surgical Tech program here at my school.

It sounds like more of issues with the teacher than anything. Definitely agree that bad or rude teacher can make your education experience terrible. Such a shame too. Don't let this cruddy teacher control how you feel about a program.

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