A surgical tech is a part of the surgical team and helps set up the operating room before a patient is ever brought in. Once the operating room has been cleaned, the case instruments and supplies are brought into the room and opened. There is a specific way you can do this and have all the items stay "sterile." It's called aseptic technique, and once these supplies have been open, a sterile field has been created.
Once the supplies are opened, the scrub (which is another term for a surgical tech, I guess you could say it's the slang word for surgical tech) goes out and scrubs in. This means that they disinfect their hands and arms up to the elbow, go back into the room and put on a gown and sterile gloves. Once this is accomplished, the scrub is considered a part of the sterile field.
The scrub then starts to set up and arrange all the sterile surgical supplies that will be needed for the case. This picture is an example of that, except the scrub in this picture is purposely facing the camera. In a normal OR the scrub is facing the wall, because the back table (where all the supplies are) is by the back of the OR.
Here is a picture of a back table being used during surgery...(which is called a back table because it starts out in the "back" of the room...hehehe...seriously though, that's why it's called a back table...)
When the surgeon has scrubbed and comes in the room, the scrub gowns and gloves the surgeon, and then starts to assist the surgeon. The surgical site is draped off, the back table is moved to be more accessible, and an experienced scrub should know exactly what the surgeon needs and when they need it, and passes the supplies and instruments to the surgeon.
Depending on the case, there might be two surgeons, two scrubs, etc... but at the bare minimum there will be a scrub, and the surgeon that are scrubbed in. There are other members of the surgical team that aren't scrubbed in. A nurse (called a circulator) and anesthesia. Keep in mind this is just a basic description.
Here is a picture of a surgical team scrubbed in. There are two surgeons (they are on opposite sides of the patient, and furthest away from the camera) and two scrubs. (one of them may be a first assistant. A first assistant is someone who is a surgical tech who has specialized their training and usually has a job with one or two surgeons, and that's ALL they do, is work for those surgeons. If there is a first assistant they are the one that usually asks for things from the scrub. Anyway...confused yet? :)
When the case is over the scrub cleans up all the instruments and supplies, undrapes the patient, assists the nurse with moving the patient, and then starts to clean up and disinfect the OR in preparation for the next surgery, if there is one. And then it starts all over again... :)
So, in a nutshell that is what I do, and for the most part it is a job that I really enjoy doing.
4 comments:
Thanks Melissa for all the info! I always thought the people helping the doctors during my C-Sections were nurses. I didn't realize a scrub and a nurse were two different positions! I could never do it because blood makes me queasy. But I'm glad that there are people who do it, though! And congrats on your new job!!! I'm so happy for you!
Kayla, depending on the hospital, you probably did have a nurse assisting. Most hospitals (unless they are smaller, like the two hospitals close to where I live) have a separate crew for labor and delivery, and c-sections. Most doctors like to have another doctor assisting them for a c-section, and unless it's a stat c-section, they will have that additional doctor to assist. There is still a scrub that sets up, but it could be an RN (or CNA that has been trained specifically for c-sections) that does it. The hospital I work at doesn't have a separate crew though, so I will get to help on c-sections eventually.
Wow! That's really interesting! Seems quite quite a big responsibility, which I'm sure you're good at. You make it sound so easy! I, too, never realized who was who in the operating room.
Lot's of people like to read this post apparently, so I thought I would do a follow-up... it's only taken me 4-5 years to notice! For some reason I completely forgot to describe a mayo tray/stand. Maybe I was trying to keep really basic. I don't know. Anyway, in the last picture, with the two surgeons, if you look at the lady, she is standing next to a tray. That tray is called a mayo stand and it can be raised and lowered with your foot. Because of it's design, it is able to be placed over the patient, and the instruments on it are instruments that the surgeon will need really soon, or a lot of the time. So, the surgical tech is constantly assessing the situation and determining what instruments need to be on the mayo stand, and what instruments are done being needed at that moment and can be placed on the back table again.
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