As Surgical Technology Booms, Community Colleges Prepare Students To Keep Up With Adjusting Field

Technology continues to transform operating rooms, and community colleges in North Texas that teach surgical technologists must evolve, too.

For students that may conform to ever-changing surgical practices and new high-tech resources, the chances of obtaining well-paying careers in the area are good, with a projected growth of 15 percent in the next several years.

A dozen El Centro College students are busy prepping their patient for surgery: T. M. Robert, eyes wide open, lies motionless under a sterile sheet.

"That is among our mannequins that we use," Belinda Allen says. She's the director of El Centro's surgical technology program.

Clinical coordinator Aisha Leshi explains: "This is Trauma Man Bob."

Trauma Man Bob hangs out here most of the time. He's in one of the college's four mock operating rooms in downtown Dallas. Allen explains the day's lesson: gowning, gloving and sterilizing.

"We allow it to be as real as possible," Allen says. "So when the students have been in the role here, should they drop something and it's non-sterile, they've to go and get a new one."

It truly is pristine, because of the steam sterilizer down the hall.

Student Matty Hutyra stands next to the dummy. She points out a large number of instruments.

"Sponge holding forceps. You understand you've your lap bands here, your Raytek bands." She continues the list. "This can be a baby Richardson Retractor. And see both of these, they're a similar thing, but they're just smaller."

Leshi remembers when El Centro didn't have the sterilizer or any of these instruments. When she graduated from here 27 years ago, Leshi only had pictures of the hand tools, until she began clinical training.

"My first appendicitis that I did was an open, abdominal appendicitis," Leshi recalls. "Now, we're taking out the appendix with laparoscopy — minimally invasive, so that they may recover quickly and go back to work."

There's a lot of work for students in this field. Workforce Solutions of Greater Dallas projects 1,500 jobs this season alone. Nationally, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects surgical tech jobs will grow rapidly — 15 percent through the season 2024.

If you loved this post and you would want to receive more info about surgical tech salary i implore you to visit the web-page. "My main surgical technologist, Sandra, kind of knows exactly what do be substituted in, in case a particular piece is missing. She knows what's like enough to be able to manage, and she also knows when it is a hard stop. And so it's a huge section of what allows me to be successful in what I really do," Oltmann says.

Back El Centro's operating room, students browse the laparoscopy machine. Surgical technologists are in charge of keeping its tiny, state-of-the-art cameras and skinny wires working as they thread through a patient's blood vessels.

About the sole bit of surgical equipment not at El Centro is just a robot. At significantly more than $1 million, Belinda Allen says it's too pricey.

"Every day, the robotic system has been used in more and more surgeries; also the minimally invasive versus the open procedures," Allen says.

Several surgical technology students find yourself specializing in an area like obstetrics and gynecology, orthopedics or vascular surgery.

Student Amanda Scott hasn't picked a niche yet, but likes her job prospects no matter the focus. She says she could work anywhere in the country. And graduates with a two-year associate's degree may easily discover careers paying a lot more than $40,000 a year.