r/surgicaltechnology

The title says it all ! My nonna is retiring in aug & has been doing it for a long time ! any recommendations on any retirement gifts ???

Usually I put a disposable sticky neutral electrode on the thigh. Is it appropriate to put a neutral electrode on the thigh of the leg which isn't operated?

Idk bro. I’ve done this job for 3 years I’ve gone from 57k to 75k in a short amount of time. And I just fucking hate being a tech. Genuinely have lost all passion for job. Idk what to do at this point. I want to stick it out so I can get nursing school paid for but the people at my job are the most vile creatures I’ve ever worked with.

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 everyone, I am CST student and I take my certification on August 3. Lately I have been applying to hospitals in nearby states and the one I’m in now. I understand they want someone that’s certified, but my program director has been encouraging us to start applying now to have a job lined up. Well, of course a majority of the places I applied to have denied me because I am not certified, and I’m scared that once I am certified, that I can’t reapply to those hospitals again. Will me getting my application denied now as a student affect my application if I apply again after getting certified?

Hey everyone! So as the title says, today (and honestly yesterday too) was really rough. My preceptor told me that I need to go back to lab for practice because I’m still touching stuff too much during set up, constantly shuffling stuff around.

I’ll admit that I’m still touching stuff too much, I’m working on it but it’s still there. She said by now I should have a routine down and I shouldn’t be “fidgeting” so much when it comes to setting up my softs and sharps etc. After a few minutes she scrubbed in to take over because I was taking so long, and it was a robotic case with a dirty table and a clean table.

The problem is, every single preceptor tells me to do things differently. I’m always doing something wrong, even if I do it exactly how their coworker told me to do it the day before. I’m trying desperately to get a system down and to only touch things once. It’s a simple enough task for sure, I understand the concept, so why can’t I get it?

The day went downhill from there. Any move I made, she scrutinized. For half a second I reached for a raytec before we had counted to make a sponge stick, but I caught myself and put my hand back where it was. She asked me what I was reaching for and why. The list goes on.

I also haven’t had this harsh of criticism at any of the other facilities I’ve been at. Even last week at this facility I had a great week. Even with the same preceptor I had today! I’m just so discouraged and I’m rambling.

Was today just a bad day? She definitely made me anxious all day with the constant scrutiny so that didn’t help my confidence. Or am I just terrible?

We have to know way more about the procedure, we have to stand the entire time, our job is physically more taxing. We have much more tasks to juggle than the nurse does, we have less time to prepare for the procedure and less hel

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 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?

Have my bachelors degree. Have been doing all my science prereqs. Thinking about going into healthcare due to not finding a job with my previous degree- but also debating between reapplying to x ray tech or pursuing surg tech in order to gain experience and begin working.

The paper or plastic bag that people tape to the side of the table to throw little trash in....are the items in it considered unsterile?

I’m about to start my sterile processing tech program at my local community college. It’s exactly 8 months and I plan to graduate with my cert immediately. Should I work as a sterile tech part time and go do the two year program for surgical tech at the same school or just stick to SPD? Thank you! I’m also very excited to venture out into the medical world.

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’ve been a CST for nearly a year, and I’m proud that my hourly wage has grown from $25.25 to $30.33 in that time.

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

I’m currently a CST student but this job wasn’t quite what I was expecting. I had a job in EMS before this and I am starting to miss my time on an ambulance. Considering going back but don’t wanna make any brash decisions. I guess I’m just looking for guidance on what I should do.