| Surgical
Specialties |
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Technologists |
Playing an important role on Central Maine Medical Center's
Surgical Services staff are the surgical technologists who
assist with operating room duties ranging from assuring sterility
in the operating room to maintaining equipment and instrumentation
and providing hands-on assistance with surgical procedures.
Working with CMMC's surgical nurses, certified surgical technologists
(CSTs) prepare the operating room prior to a procedure and
assist the surgeon during the operation. They anticipate the
surgeon's needs, and set up and maintain sterile fields. (A
sterile field is the area around the surgical patient that
can only be entered by “scrubbed” personnel wearing
sterile attire and using sterile equipment and supplies.)
CSTs help to prepare the equipment needed for each specific
case. They also set up the operating environment required
by the surgeon and communicate the doctor's needs to the circulating
nurses (the registered nurses in the operating room who assists
from outside the sterile field) so they may get whatever equipment
and materials are required during a procedure.
Surgical technologists at CMMC are knowledgeable in the function,
care and maintenance of surgical instruments. They assist
with stocking, rotating and maintaining supplies.
The knowledge required to be a surgical technologist is considerable.
In order to assist the surgeon well, a technologist must be
familiar with hundreds of instruments and their applications.
They must also have working knowledge of anatomy, physiological
and pharmacology. Also important is their ability to anticipate
what assistance, equipment or instruments a surgeon will need
– a skill that comes with training and experience. Manual
dexterity is a very important trait for a surgical technologist.
Becoming a surgical technologist requires training in an
approved surgical technologist program where students receive
extensive clinical practice and classroom instruction. Students
are provided experiences in various surgical specialties,
including general-abdominal surgery, orthopedics, neurosurgery,
gynecological, ophthalmologic, thoracic, vascular, otolaryngological,
urological, and facial-plastic surgery. The National Association
of Surgical Technologists certifies CMMC's surgical technologists
after they successfully pass a national board exam. CST's
are required to earn continuing education credits in order
to maintain their certification.
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