In Honor of National Surgical Tech Week | Day In The Life of a Surgical Technologist
The third week in September has been designated National Surgical Technologist Week where we take the time to celebrate the many surgical techs who have a huge impact on every OR. Surgical techs possess so much knowledge and are instrumental (ha, get it?) to the success of each surgery through their preparedness and anticipation. I have met many amazing surgical techs throughout my career, and I am sure I will meet many more. I do my best to always try to learn something to put it towards my own scrub technique, or use it to be a better circulator and leader. I am fortunate enough to still get to scrub on a regular basis even after getting my RN license, so here is what a normal (what’s normal?) day looks like as a surgical tech!
Although you perform the same job duties on a regular basis, but there is always variability in the procedures and the people you are performing those duties with. So, here is an average day for a surgical tech.
0645- arrive at the hospital
0655- report to the lounge for morning huddle
Morning huddle is where any concerns for the day or previous days are brought up. This is where you learn if there is anything special going on that day, for example if there is a hospital-wide celebration, etc. This is also a time when you can get the majority of the team’s attention at one time for whatever reason you are needing it. I’ve learned that there are quite a few people who never attend morning huddle and think they are a waste of time. Then they go to central to grab a foley and some other supplies and can’t find it and wonder why no one told them that they were moved. Well, they tried to tell you at morning huddle. Just go, it only takes a few minutes and some days it may not be value adding, but others it will. Morning huddle is where you also review the schedule and see what room you’re assigned to and what cases you’ll be doing.
0700- scrub those hands
0705- head to your room
Now you have a little less than a half hour to get your room ready for that first patient of the day. You need to grab a stack of your gloves as well as the surgeon’s gloves, get enough to get through all of your cases plus a few. This saves the circulator from having to run and grab gloves because you ran out too soon. You will also need to grab your case cart if it isn’t already in your room. I always confirm the procedure first then look at the patient’s allergies. Sort through it to determine what you need to open and what you will need to hold as a “have available”- use the preference card. A preference card is a profile created for each procedure for each surgeon- it includes all the required instruments, supplies, and also notes about their preferences. If these are regularly updated, they give you every detail you need to get through the case successfully. After you’ve sorted your case it’s time to open and get set up. Sometimes you may be set up by the time your patient arrives to the room, others you may not be quite ready and that’s usually okay. Depending on what type of anesthesia your first patient is receiving you could have an additional 10-15 minutes to finish your set up.
If you are done with your set up, offer to help the nurse get the patient prepared. Extra hands are usually helpful. Stand on the opposite side of the operating table with blankets to cover the patient when they scoot over and if they can’t scoot over themselves, help them with whatever assistive device your nurse or CRNA thinks is the best fit. You have input too, but ultimately the nurse is responsible for the care of the patient and has his or her license associated with the care of this and every other patient they care for. Anyways, stand beside the patient to help with whatever needed whether that’s helping anesthesia during induction and intubation or helping to position the patient afterwards. Just be available- DON’T just leave your room and expect your nurse to get the patient ready all on their own. Be a team player and build that trust. Plus, what happens if something goes wrong? Let’s say your patient falls when transferring between the stretcher and the OR table, or they have a malignant hyperthermia crisis during induction, and you were not there to help prevent that fall or to offer help to save a patient’s life during an MH crisis. Not a good look.
Let’s say none of that happens and your patient is successfully positioned and prepped for surgery. I like to use the time during the prep dry time (3 minutes for Chloraprep) to do my count if I did not get a chance to do it earlier in the day. If the surgeon is already scrubbed in then that 3 minute dry time is an excellent time to do the timeout. A ‘timeout’ is where everyone pauses and the nurse (or surgeon) will report off pertinent information about the procedure such as the patient’s name, allergies, procedure to be performed, laterality, if necessary, fire risk, and other information based on your facilities policy. If ANY of this information during the time out does not line up with what you believe is correct, then you mustspeak up. Failing to do a proper timeout or speaking up during a question of the timeout could lead to many bad outcomes, one of which is a wrong laterality procedure. Let’s say you were supposed to be doing a LEFT below the knee amputation and a right was performed. This is definitely not a good situation for anyone, but especially for the patient. Make sure you listen to the timeout and truly participate.
Moving on, now that the prep has dried, it’s time to drape. Sometimes the surgeon will do all the draping themselves, sometimes you will help each other, and sometimes you will do it all yourself- it just depends on the surgeon, but also their confidence in your ability to do so. After draping you will get your bovie, suction, light handles and whatever else you may have put in their place. Then you will pull up your mayo and back table and get started with the procedure. Now the procedure is complete. Time to break down the sterile field, help with waking the patient up and getting them cleaned up and moved back over to the stretcher. After you’ve put all the instrumentation into the case cart, spray your instruments with the pre-enzymatic spray- don’t skip it. Then close the case cart doors and transport it back to SPD. While the room is being turned over, I will grab my next case cart, sort through it and follow all the same steps for the rest of the cases of the day.
1450- be relieved
If the case isn’t over and I’m not on call. (Don’t forget your relief count!)
Always grab your gloves and put them back on your way out- don’t expect someone else to do it for you.
1455- wrap it up!
Check tomorrow’s assignment, head to the locker room get changed and clock out for the day by 1508.
What about the days when you’re done with your cases before it’s time to clock out? Well, there is always a lot to do. Help put away supplies, see if anyone needs a break, check for outdates, restock your room and any other empty rooms. Check in with your leader to see if they know of anything that needs to be done. You likely have e-learnings that you can work on. Yes, you could always just go to the lounge and sit, but that’s not a good habit to get into.
Hopefully this brief overview of an average day as a surgical tech gives you some insight!
