Eastern Florida State College offers an associate degree program in Surgical Services. Students in this program develop the technical ability and acquire the knowledge necessary for initial employment in a hospital operating room as a member of a surgical team and qualify for employment in any health care facility where surgery is performed. Students complete a one-year academic study including supervised clinical training in the Surgical Services lab on campus and in the modern surgical arenas of area health care facilities.

The program operates under the guidelines of the Association of Surgical Technologists (AST) and the Florida Department of Education.

Eastern Florida State College’s Surgical Technology Program is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Program (www.caahep.org) upon the recommendation of the Accrediting Review Council on Education in Surgical Technology and Surgical Assisting.

Surgical Technology Program Completion Rate

Academic Years: 2018-19; 2019-20; and 2020-21

Surgical Technology Assessment Exam Results

Academic Years: 2020-21 through 2023-24 - Percentage of graduates who passed the National Certified Surgical Technology Exam

Employment Outcomes

Objectives: The learner will:

1. Describe the purpose of the observation role.
2. Develop professional competency by performing in the scrub role during an arranged clinical experience.
3. Evaluate the development of professionalism throughout clinical experiences using various methods.
4. Utilize sufficient documentation for verifying cases and roles performed.
5. Demonstrate procedural proficiency by completing a minimum of 120 surgical cases.

Content:

1. Role definitions
   1. First Scrub Role (FS)
      1. To document a case in the FS role, the student shall perform the following duties   during any given surgical procedure with proficiency:
         1. Verify supplies and equipment
         2. Set up the sterile field
            1. Instruments
            2. Medication
            3. Supplies
         3. Perform required operative counts
            1. AST guidelines1
            2. Facility policy
         4. Pass instruments and supplies
            1. Anticipate needs
         5. Maintain sterile technique
            1. Recognize sterility breaks
            2. Correct sterility breaks
            3. Document as needed
   2. Second Scrub Role (SS)
      1. The SS role is defined as a student who has not met all criteria for the FS role but actively participates in the surgical procedure in its entirety by completing any of the following:
         1. Assistance with diagnostic endoscopy
         2. Assistance with vaginal delivery
         3. Cutting suture
         4. Providing camera assistance
         5. Retracting
         6. Sponging
         7. Suctioning
   3. Observation Role (O)
      1. The O role is defined as a student who has not met the FS or SS criteria. The student is observing a case in either the sterile or nonsterile role. Observation cases cannot be applied to the required 120 case count but must be documented.
2. Case requirements – A student must complete a minimum of 120 cases as delineated below:
   1. General surgery
      1. A student must complete a minimum of 30 cases in General Surgery.
         1. 20 of these cases must be performed in the FS role.
         2. The remaining 10 cases may be performed in either the FS or SS role.
   2. Specialty surgery
      1. A student must complete a minimum of 90 cases in various surgical specialties, excluding General Surgery.
         1. A minimum of 60 cases must be performed in the FS role and distributed amongst a minimum of four surgical specialties.
            1. A minimum of ten cases in four different specialties must be completed in the FS role (40 cases total).
            2. The additional 20 cases in the FS role may be distributed amongst any one surgical specialty or multiple surgical specialties.
         2. The remaining 30 cases may be performed in any surgical specialty in either the FS or SS role.
      2. Surgical specialties (excluding General Surgery)
         1. Cardiothoracic
         2. Genitourinary
         3. Neurologic
         4. Obstetric and gynecologic
         5. Orthopedic
         6. Otorhinolaryngologic
         7. Ophthalmologic
         8. Oral Maxillofacial
         9. Peripheral vascular
         10. Plastics and reconstructive
         11. Procurement and transplant
3. Counting cases
   1. Cases may be counted according to surgical specialty2as defined in the core curriculum.
      1. One pathology is counted as one procedure.
         
         Example: A patient requires a breast biopsy followed by mastectomy. It is one pathology, breast cancer, and the specialty is general surgery; therefore, it is counted and documented as one procedure and one case.
         
         
      2. Counting more than one case on the same patient.
         
         Example: A trauma patient requires a splenectomy and repair of a LeFort I fracture. Two cases can be counted and documented since the splenectomy is general surgery, and the LeFort I repair is an oral maxillofacial surgical specialty
         
         Example: A procedure that requires different set-ups and includes different specialties may be counted as separate cases. A mastectomy procedure (general surgery) followed with immediate reconstruction or augmentation (plastics and reconstruction) are counted as separate cases.
         
         
      3. Diagnostic vs. operative endoscopy cases
         1. An endoscopy classified as a semi-critical procedure is considered a diagnostic case.
         2. An endoscopy classified as a critical procedure is considered an operative case.
         3. Diagnostic and operative cases will be counted according to specialty. 
         4. Diagnostic cases are counted in the SS role up to a total of ten of the required 120 cases.
            
            Example: A cystoscopy is a diagnostic procedure. If an adjunct procedure is performed, it is considered operative; therefore, a cystoscopy with ureteral stent placement is an operative procedure.
            
            
   2. Vaginal delivery cases are counted in the SS role of the OB/GYN specialty, up to a total of five of the required 120.
4. Documentation2*
   1. Case performed
   2. Role performed
   3. Performance evaluations
   4. Verification by program director

Upon completion of the Surgical Technology Services program, and the initial accreditation approved, graduates are eligible to apply to the National Board of Surgical Technology and Surgical Assisting (NBSTSA) to take the National Certifying Exam, provided all the eligibility requirements have been met.

Those who pass this exam demonstrate their theoretical and practical knowledge of surgical technology and are granted the designation Certified Surgical Technologist (CST).

The EFSC Surgical Services Program's mission is to "prepare competent entry level surgical technologists in the cognitive (knowledge), psycho-motor (skills), and affective (behavior) learning domains."