Surgical Technologies
Surgical technologists at Naval Medical Center San Diego (NMCSD) are hospital corpsmen who have completed a challenging seven-month program in surgical technique. They undergo both technical and practical training at NMCSD, which prepares them to work in operating rooms anywhere.
Surgical technologists are integral members of the surgical team that includes surgeons, anesthesiologists and registered nurses. The surgical technologist, or “scrub” role is extremely important for surgical procedures that are to be safely and efficiently performed. These highly skilled personnel are quick thinkers, anticipating the technical needs of many surgeons. They must always be ready to pass any one of thousands of specialized instruments used in multiple surgical specialties, such as orthopedic, thoracic or vascular surgery.
Surgical technologists set up highly technical equipment necessary for specific cases, such as endoscopes, video cameras, drills, tourniquets and patient positioning devices. They are very knowledgeable about human anatomy and various sutures, drains and dressing materials. They help nurses track blood loss and perform sponge and needle counts throughout surgeries to ensure patient safety.
In addition to passing surgical instruments during surgery, surgical technologists are responsible for the decontamination and maintenance of hundreds of surgical sets. They are experts in aseptic technique, infection prevention and environmental disinfection. They can operate various sterilizers, or autoclaves, according to particular manufacturer’s requirements.
In addition to their daily responsibilities, military surgical technologists have collateral duties, such as ordering supplies, providing peer training and orienting new staff. Surgical technologists cope with risks not found in other jobs, such as exposure to disease, chemicals, stress inherent in emergent cases, and more recently, the risk of gunfire as they provide surgical support to Marines overseas.
They say that, they enjoy their jobs because they work right there in the operating room along side the surgeons and nurses, something other corpsman don’t get to do. They are proud of themselves as they provide a vital service to the Navy and Marine Corps team, says HM3 Maribel Rey.
The scrub role is vital in military medicine, especially in operational settings, aboard ships, near battlefields and within fleet hospitals. The medical and nursing staff at NMCSD appreciate and salute these versatile, valuable personnel without whom this command could not enable the thousands of surgical cases safely performed each year. The week of Sept. 19-25 is the time when our nation salutes surgical technologists.