r/scrubtech

I just started this program this month and was wondering would it be challenging getting a job or travel cst job when graduating? Is the pay livable? I’m in my 30s so I don’t want to waste any more time playing w career . How much are yall making as new surgical techs

I have been a surgical tech for 9 years and have largely been successful in anything I try to specialize in. It had gotten to a point where I expected to catch on and perform well at anything given enough time, and when I volunteered to train for a neuro team earlier this year I felt optimistic and like it was such a great move for my career after almost a decade. I was feeling rather stir crazy and unchallenged. I went through a rigorous period of orientation (few weeks in each) not only in neuro but in ortho spine, ortho trauma and peds neuro/ortho.. I have been on my own about a month, though a lot of days I am elsewhere other than neuro.

They wanted me to take neuro call and I barely got any buddy call before I was "set free". Throughout all of this, I feel like I am being expected to be as sharp and intuitive (at every micro and macro aspect of every procedure) as the other techs who have 3, 5, 10 and 22 years of experience in neuro.. it's becoming exhausting. I'm trying and I'm aiming to be better by the case but the smart ass comments by PAs and the girl with 22 years of experience are wearing me down.. I'm considering quitting but I have never given up on mastering a service.

This department hemorrhages people (I wonder why) and needs people as dedicated as me.. and I don't want to let down the coworkers who I do like. I don't know what to do but the toxic environment for a learner is becoming too much. It's like they all forget what it's like to be new. And why am I expected to be an expert at call when I've barely gotten any? I've expressed this to my boss and it's basically like a whatever kind of response and just keep trying.. ironically, this kind of behavior seems to make me MORE prone to mental hiccups when I'm trying to scrub the whirlwind of a neuro case.. I have good days, then I have bad days that are so bad I wanna say eff it.

Any neuro techs out there with any advice? Does it get easier? Chat GPT says it takes about a year to feel fully competent.. so why am I being treated like an idiot a few months in?

Thanks 🫶

During orientation I was told many scrub students can’t work due to how intense the program is.. how do you guys go about this? How do you guys survive without working?

Hey ya’ll!! I am a surgical tech student in CA getting ready to do my clinicals before graduating in January. I am very interested in a job at the Mayo after I graduate and relocating my life from Sacramento, CA. Anyone a scrub tech there or know of anyone? Would like to know what the day in the life is like in the OR. Am also curious whether there are any CA transplants that can speak to the cost of living. My research shows similar to about what you’d expect in Sacramento, maybe a little lower, but again, what is realistic in terms of cost comparison? I am hoping for some realistic insights, if you could be so kind as to share, it would be appreciated.

Hi! I'm a new scrub tech (graduated in May and hired on at my last clinical site) and curious if anyone has ever purchased lead from sites like AliExpress and Alibaba. I know, I probably sound crazy and dumb. But, I figure SOMEBODY has had to have purchased there. Has anyone had any luck buying their lead from sites like these? I have no issues using the hospital provided lead. We all know how expensive buying your own lead is, so that isn't an option. Haha! Also, just out of curiosity - when you DO purchase your own lead, how do you go about having your hospital test it (it is my understanding they need to test any lead that isn't provided by the hospital)? Also, what thickness does the lead need to be? If you don't have any knowledge about the lead, some advice would be welcome and wonderful. Maybe something you wish someone had told you when you were new!

Thank you very much!

I'm a first semester surgical tech student and I'm honestly questioning whether I'm just not cut out for this or if my expectations are off. I'm very quiet and shy. I've always been that way, but throughout my program it's become one of the biggest points of contention. I feel like my personality gets criticized more than my actual technical skills.

One instructor in lab even joked that I was "a psychopath" and that I "shouldn't be around sharp objects." Whether it was meant as a joke or not, it really bothered me. I've also been told I'm too quiet and not tough enough for the profession.

At clinical, my preceptor told me I lack critical thinking. One example was that while EVS cleaned the room, I stayed with the case cart in the hallway. He said I should have brought it up in front of the scrub sink so it wouldn't block beds coming through. My thought process was completely different. I was trying to keep the scrub sink area open because I assumed people would be using it. I genuinely wasn't trying to make anyone's job harder I just didn't know the workflow.

What confuses me is that I've spent almost all of my clinical time in endoscopy department(5 out of 8 days). I still don't really know how the main OR functions. I've never started a room in the main OR before.

And after EVS finished cleaning apparently I was supposed to start setting up myself. If the scrub tech I'm assigned to isn't in the room yet, am I supposed to start setting up? Am I even allowed to be in the room by myself as a student? I don't want to overstep or contaminate something, but I also don't want to stand around waiting for every instruction.

It feels he is watch me make mistakes instead of correcting me in the moment, and then later tell me I should have known what to do. That's the part I struggle with the most.

I'm genuinely trying. I ask questions, I want to improve, and I know I'm not the fastest learner. But I leave clinical feeling and class like my quiet personality is viewed as a character flaw.

For those of you who precept students, is this a normal way to teach? Were any of you really quiet when you started? And what level of initiative would you realistically expect from a first-semester CST student who's still learning the workflow?

Hey guys so im in the DMV area and graduated in 2025. I had a hard time finding a job as a Surgical Tech (who would a thought!) So I have been working as a rep for close to a year. I work with major hospitals in the area and pretty peeved at what I've witnessed.🤬 Id say about 65% of the time its been RN's circulators scrubbing into cases. I was at a facility in VA awhile ago and was surprised to see a circulator being trained from scratch! Knew nothing about the instruments nothing about how they worked,had to walked through every single step. I heard alot of hospitals say not enough experience or shortage of preceptors which is what I took as the reason I haven't found a job. But they are willing to hand hold an RN with VERY different training to scrub. Hospitals now can pay RNS a little more to scrub & circulate instead of paying a whole different salary & hiring a tech. Im pretty pissed and its a slap in the face to the degree and certifications we worked hard to get. As a result I've seen more contamination errors, confusion,longer surgeries by them treating surgical technology like its interchangeable with nursing. Im sitting with a degree I have not been able to use while RN's are being trained in an area they never received a degree for. If Surgical Techs can't circulate and do paperwork why can RN's scrub?? Why are hospitals requiring CST certifications but allowing RN'S to scrub cardiac,ortho,neuro,urology,GYN cases without having to go thru the testing,schooling and training that Surgical Techs do? If something isn't done now then the field of Surgical Technology is at risk.As if they dont have a big enough shortage of nurses now they have them taking the jobs and duties of a whole other profession..thoughts?

I’m not seeing much online about the pay in Indiana. Does anyone have an idea?

I don’t know what else I could have done. I studied for 4 months, 2–3 hours a day, every single day. I had the AST CST study guide book, did every practice exam in it, downloaded multiple CST apps, took practice tests on different websites, reviewed Quizlet flashcards, and even went back over my old notes—yet I still failed. At this point, it feels like it just wasn’t meant to be. I’m honestly at a loss for words. Seventy-five percent of people who take this exam pass, so it’s obviously not that hard, but I still didn’t make it. I feel like a total failure. My classmates said they didn’t even study that much, yet they passed. If anyone has been through something similar, please share what you did, because right now I don’t think I have any other options.

I’m preparing to start my surgical technologist class in the fall, any advice from current surgical technologists?

I’m so over scrub techs claiming a surgeon is theirs and it’s their room. You understand if you quit you’re replaceable right? There is a traveler who works at my job and she claims this surgeon loves her. But he asks for me to be in his room. When he sees me in the hallways he is always asking why I’m not in his room. I mention the traveler wants to be in your room she likes you. I come to work to get a check it’s not that serious for me. I’m not going to fight (not literally ) over some surgeon. I always think people who are like that hate their personal life or don’t get enough attention. You have been scrubbing for 15 years and I know as someone scrubbing for almost 3 years that we are replaceable. It’s people like that that makes it difficult and it’s annoying. Just venting.

Where do applicants looking into a Surg Tech program go around Northern California. I’m near Modesto and the closest places are near SF and sketchy for profit colleges like SJVC, Carrington, etc.??? Any advice?

I think one of the more exhausting parts of being a scrub student is not keep up with doctors it's keeping up with different preceptors. I go to different facilities every 3 weeks and wow, when they say everyone is different they mean it. I have trouble keeping up with preceptors, I never know what they want. when I do it one way it's wrong, if I do it this way, it's wrong. some preseptors have different ideas on what's sterile, what's correct, what's incorrect. I've learned how to drape a robot like 6 different ways and each time I'm wrong. it's like starting new every single day. little things get to me, I was double enforcing my mayo and my preceptor was confused on what I was doing.

"why are you doing that it's already protected" then the next day another preceptor "why didn't you double enforce it?"

another day I was gowning the PA and my preceptor asked why I stopped draping and throwing off cord to tend to her. "you focus on what the surgeon needs". okay next time I try to finish draping and throwing off cords and this preceptor yells at me to gown and glove the student. then after they laugh at me.

I'm so frustrated. it's like doing something wrong every time.

Hi! I’m currently a CST student, and I’m happy to say I got hired at an orthopedic surgery center! I’m set to graduate in August and I plan on staying at my job for at least 1y-2y. I’m super happy and grateful but I am extremely worried about losing my hand at other specialties. Sometimes I already feel like I have, I’m not as fast to answer general/uro/gyn questions in class. I ESPECIALLY worry about managing counts; as you don’t count instruments in ortho. Is there anything I can do to maintain my hand at other specialties while working?? I want to eventually pick up a PRN at a hospital additionally to my main job, but I’ll see how manageable that actually is once the time comes. Thanks in advance!