surgical tech to RN?

P_RN, ADN, RN · Apr 20, 2003

I haven't heard of a bridge program from CST to RN. There is Excelsior College a distance degree program that I "THINK" may allow something like this.

spineCNOR · Apr 20, 2003

I am not aware of any tech to RN bridge programs, but if you attend a tech program based at a community college it might be possible that any science courses you take would transfer to the nursing school you choose.

shodobe · Apr 20, 2003

CST is a "certificate" program, where an RN program is obviously a program to obtain your "liscense"(sp). Probably some courses at a community college would be useful, but I doubt any thing within the CST course would be transferable. Hope I am wrong! Good luck, Mike

kats · Apr 20, 2003

If it is not possible, I will still continue on for my RN. I was just wondering what you all knew to be available. I guess none of you did this though, huh?

spineCNOR · Apr 20, 2003

I work with some nurses who worked at ORT's while they were in school- they all trained on the job for their tech positions, and had nothing to transfer into a nursing program.

dianacs · Apr 20, 2003

I have a fellow student who is a surg tech; she is taking the same nursing classes as everyone else. That is not to say being a surg tech wouldn't be beneficial if you ended up doing that first. You'd get to experience another facet of health care.

Y2KRN · Apr 20, 2003

Hello Kats,

I started out as a surgical tech, thought that I would go straight into nursing school from there. I ended up being a surgical technician for ten years. The money was okay and I got to do a lot of traveling, got married etc, etc.

I went to nursing school thinking I was going to an Operating Room Rn. I am now an ER nurse and love what I do. So much opens up for you when you go to nursing school.

I was able to transfer some classes toward the nursing program. Things like Anatomy and Physiology, microbiology, english, math courses, psychology. As for program specific courses there were none that could transfer. You will get an in depth curricula about the instrumentation, sterilization procedures, and go into depth about a surgical procedure itself. These I felt were valuable courses that I did not get with a nursing program. I have never regretted being a surgical technologist first. It is very informative and you learn about the human body very well. It is nice for me now because when I have a patient that I am getting ready to go to the OR, I actually know what is going to happen with their surgery, it will help you in nursing school too when you are doing assessments to know how they did the surgery.

When you go to get your nursing degree it will be helpful. If you want to be an OR nurse you will have a great advantage because you will know how to scrub. You do not learn how to do this in nursing school, you don't learn the surgical instruments, and surgical scrub how to manage a back table and mayo, or do sponge, needle, and instrument counts. Surgeons love to teach that has been my experience more so than many other types of physicians. The OR is very technical and you will be able to see the role of the RN, observe how to assist with intubation, position patients, use laser, phaco machines, sterilizers, endoscopes etc.

Call pay is good and if you work in a bigger facility you may get a perfect flexible schedule, so that you can continue to work and go to nursing school.

I have not heard of any program that bridges surgical tech to nursing but, it does give you a good base for going into nursing.

Nursing school teaches you how to assess patients and you learn much more about disease process and the big picture of things. But, when you have a heads up of how the inside of the body works it makes a lot more sense to learn how to assess the function and disease processes that are going on in the body.

I wish you luck, with whatever you decide to do.

Y2KRN

kats · Apr 20, 2003

Thank you for your very helpful response. If nothing else, by the end of this next fall semester, I will have all the nursing pre-requisites done so I could be able to go straight into a nursing program after being a surgical tech for a while as far as that goes. If I have to do the complete program, I will do that too. I will just have to have a job that will work with me and an RN program that I can take while working at the same time. Like I said before, I am still applying to the RN programs too, but they told me that there are a lot of people who apply up to 4 times before they are automatically let in. I am 36 years old. I just don't want to wait that long before continuing and finishing my education. I want to get to work and start helping people. I have done work as a volunteer and a CNA and I miss it.

enlightenedprincess · Jan 12, 2011

Hi it's the year 2011 now im currently attracted to both Surgical Technologist and RN. Did you go to Surgical Tech or RN school?

DSC-RN · Sep 11, 2011

Excelsior does allow some health care professionals to do their Associate's degree program which is actually "testing program". You take a series of tests and if you pass them all you can complete the clinical testing portion and then take NCLEX for licensure as a RN. Unfortunately, CST is not on the list of those who can take advantage of this option.