First a little backstory..I am a 22 yr old wife and mother of a beautiful 20 mth old son. 6 months ago I deceided that I REALLY wanted to go back to school. So I started looking at schools and figuring out where my passion was. My husband pointed out how I recorded EVERY show that had anything to do with hospitals and surgeries and was always telling him about different operations. DING DING light bulb went off..I LOVE surgery! So I found a great surgery tech program.
Before beginning the said surgery tech program I did a lot of research and deceided my dream was to be a first assistant. I did even more research and deceided I wanted to go into nursing because of all of the other possibilities, pay, and prestige that would come along with it. The schooling was the same amount of time, because both programs ended in an associates degree.
Well yesterday my school announces (6 days before class scheduling) that they are getting rid of the Associates degree in nursing and replacing it with a new BSN program. This program will take 5 years and because this is a very prestigous private college it will cost over $50,000 dollars. I now feel like the best option is to just go back to being a surgery tech and upon completion of that program, enroll in a first assistant program.
My question is: I have seen so many ugly fights on here about surgery techs, Is it a bad idea? For thos of you that are/have been surgery techs..any advice? OR nurses:What is your take on the situation?
I guess I am feeling so lost, stressed, and rushed in my decision and any advice and opinons would be greatly appreciated. THANKS!
Mercys- Thanks for the heads up, I had no clue if the LPN was worth it or not.
Skyblue- You are completly right about making one decision at a time, Im a compulsive planner (it came with being a mother :) I feel the need to plan out exactly whats going to happen down to the month for the next 10 years lol. Ive already told my husband when we can have another child (Summer 2015 :) Thanks for the advice everyone!
I am a Surgical Tech. My passion is in the O.R. I found that there were not enough jobs for ST. and I was crushed. I decided to go into the nursing program, with the intention of going back into the O.R. However, I loved the hands on surgery with the surgeons. I will now have to find a hospital that allows nurses to scrub in during surgery.
AWW Lbanks I am sorry to hear about the job situation. I am very worried about this same scenario, that is why I am trying to get as many credentials and certifications as possible, in the hopes that it will increase my odds of finding employment. I know in my area nurses dont scrub because its just cost effective to have a scurb tech do it for half the pay. I know my passion is in the OR, but Im considering PA school eventually because I think it would be neat to be able to both work with the surgeon and round on the patients (but thats a decision for waay later:) Good luck in NS and good luck getting back into the OR. I dont know if your interested in becoming a CFA but I found an AMAZING program, The Meridian Institute of Surgical First Assisting. It's 3 parts, first 13 online classes (very quick), then you go to Vanderbilt for a week and perform whole surgeries on live pigs, then you precept with a surgeon.
I would def. check into hiring practices in your area before NS. If you dont want to be a nurse, it may be very hard to get back into the OR, In my area OR nursing jobs are scarce and they require two years experience (and you do not scrub) GOOD LUCK!
AWW Lbanks I am sorry to hear about the job situation. I am very worried about this same scenario, that is why I am trying to get as many credentials and certifications as possible, in the hopes that it will increase my odds of finding employment. I know in my area nurses dont scrub because its just cost effective to have a scurb tech do it for half the pay. I know my passion is in the OR, but Im considering PA school eventually because I think it would be neat to be able to both work with the surgeon and round on the patients (but thats a decision for waay later:) Good luck in NS and good luck getting back into the OR. I dont know if your interested in becoming a CFA but I found an AMAZING program, The Meridian Institute of Surgical First Assisting. It's 3 parts, first 13 online classes (very quick), then you go to Vanderbilt for a week and perform whole surgeries on live pigs, then you precept with a surgeon.
I would def. check into hiring practices in your area before NS. If you dont want to be a nurse, it may be very hard to get back into the OR, In my area OR nursing jobs are scarce and they require two years experience (and you do not scrub) GOOD LUCK!
Oh! Don't get me wrong. I want to be a nurse for other reasons. I also found that Surgical Tech's do not have a voice in the O.R. I was unable to advocate for my patient during an assignment as a Surgical Tech. This angered me so much. I was thrown under the bus because I had given the doctor an instrument to do a skin test during a c-section before proceeding to cut. He looked at me like I was crazy, and I looked at him like he was crazy! He didn't do the skin test and proceeded anyway. Two days later I was fired. :eek:I spent the next few days shocked that I was expected to keep my mouth shut. That was simply not an option. :mad:So I decided if I am going to speak up, I better have the credentials to do it. So here I am. My first love is taking care of the patient, my second love is the o.r. - my third love is surgery. So just getting into the O.R. would be fine with me.
Oh! Don't get me wrong. I want to be a nurse for other reasons. I also found that Surgical Tech's do not have a voice in the O.R. I was unable to advocate for my patient during an assignment as a Surgical Tech. This angered me so much. I was thrown under the bus because I had given the doctor an instrument to do a skin test during a c-section before proceeding to cut. He looked at me like I was crazy, and I looked at him like he was crazy! He didn't do the skin test and proceeded anyway. Two days later I was fired. :eek:I spent the next few days shocked that I was expected to keep my mouth shut. That was simply not an option. :mad:So I decided if I am going to speak up, I better have the credentials to do it. So here I am. My first love is taking care of the patient, my second love is the o.r. - my third love is surgery. So just getting into the O.R. would be fine with me.
OMG! I cant believe you were fired for that! Thats awesome that you want to advocate for your patients. My first love is surgery (hints the CFA school plans), but I also am very interested in PA school so that I can have more patient interaction. I would love to be able to treat my patients from pre-op through surgery and then to post-op. I love the patient diagnosis, education, and medication supply parts of nursing but not the rest of it. I dont want to sound like a bad person but the actual job of nursing does not appeal to me at all (the toileting, cleaning, running back and forth for "straws" and "blankets") I just dont think I would be happy in that aspect at all. Everyone keeps saying NP's are in higher Demand than PA's but I think its a preference thing. I think out of all my plans I am most excited for the CFA school at Vanderbilt- 7 days of operating on live pigs (HUGE pigs oddly with TONS of nipples LOL)
How long did you work a ST?
Good Luck in NS! And I REALLY hope that you make your way back into the OR :)
I completly understand that, and I am truly terrified of making the wrong decision. The reason I am swaying towards ST is because in all honesty I dont think I have a passion for actual nursing. I have worried all summer about getting through nursing clinicals because I am interested in very few parts of nursing; mainly RNFA, assesements/diagnosis/ and medication administration. In doing my research today I discovered that my school offers a bridge from AS to BS (in biology). So I am considering doing ST-FA-BS-PA. I so wish I had more than 5 days to figure this out. Does anyone know anything about PA's in the OR? When I googled First Assistant I found a few threads discussing the importance for PA's in the OR, but until today I had not heard of it. THANKS :)
Around 1/3 of PAs work in Surgery. CST is a good way to get the experience that you will need to get into most programs. I was a medic in the ARMY then went to CST school and worked as a CST for three years while finishing my bachelors. There were five CST/CFA in my class of fifty in PA school. You will probably find quite a few PAs in the OR and they can give you pointers. I thought about CFA but with the way payment for surgery works its ultimately limiting (as well as being able to see the patient in preop and post op visits).
Around 1/3 of PAs work in Surgery. CST is a good way to get the experience that you will need to get into most programs. I was a medic in the ARMY then went to CST school and worked as a CST for three years while finishing my bachelors. There were five CST/CFA in my class of fifty in PA school. You will probably find quite a few PAs in the OR and they can give you pointers. I thought about CFA but with the way payment for surgery works its ultimately limiting (as well as being able to see the patient in preop and post op visits).
David Carpenter, PA-C
Thank you David, your advice was great. I finally really feel like I am doing the right thing for my personal interests. I want to go to CFA school more out pf personal interests than professional reasons. I will probably work on it will Im finishing my bachelors in Health Sciences. Feel free to share any likes/dislikes or personal stories about being a PA
Specializes in Trauma Surgery, Nursing Management.
Kim, first of all, congratulations to you for taking the steps necessary to enhance your education. The fact that you are agonizing over the decision to go to ST or RN school shows that you are a thoughtful and dedicated person.
My goal is also to become an RNFA. I know that I must meet several requirements to achieve this goal. The only way that I know to go about securing my RNFA is through the AORN. Does your school have a program for techs to go to first assist school? If so, that would be great for you. I agree with what some of the other posts stated: PAs are a dime a dozen, and it is not guaranteed that they will be in the OR most of the time. It seems to me from your passionate take on surgery that the OR is your true love.
There should be many scholarships and grants available to you so that you do not have to go into debt. I did a program at Duke where if I agreed to work at Duke my first two years out of nursing school, they would pick up the tab for tuition. Can't beat that! Look into that option at Vandy...they probably have a similar program.
Good luck to you and I hope that you realize all of your goals!
I was thrown under the bus because I had given the doctor an instrument to do a skin test during a c-section before proceeding to cut. He looked at me like I was crazy, and I looked at him like he was crazy! He didn't do the skin test and proceeded anyway. Two days later I was fired. :eek:I spent the next few days shocked that I was expected to keep my mouth shut. 
That was simply not an option. :mad:So I decided if I am going to speak up, I better have the credentials to do it.
So here I am. My first love is taking care of the patient, my second love is the o.r. - my third love is surgery. So just getting into the O.R. would be fine with me.
KimGau
69 Posts
Mercys- Thanks for the heads up, I had no clue if the LPN was worth it or not.
Skyblue- You are completly right about making one decision at a time, Im a compulsive planner (it came with being a mother :) I feel the need to plan out exactly whats going to happen down to the month for the next 10 years lol. Ive already told my husband when we can have another child (Summer 2015 :) Thanks for the advice everyone!