History of Surgical Technicians

Surgical technologists live in the shadow of other healthcare professionals such as doctors and nurses. And yet, they play a vital role in assisting surgeons during surgical procedures. The succession of wars that plagued the world in the last century created the need for more trained medical people. Doctors and nurses were called to serve the soldiers in the battlefield that were harmed and wounded in medical camps and hospitals. Their numbers were decimated during these wars as well thus, giving birth to a new medical profession – surgical technologist.

The rise of surgical technology began during World War I, World War II, Korean War and the Vietnam War. During these wars, medics were trained and recruited to provide emergency services since nurses were confined to serve in hospitals and medical stations. The Navy had their medical corpsman because women were not allowed to board battle ships at the time.

That’s when the role of operating room technicians or ORTs started. They took the place of female nurses in the battlefield. ORTs had their training through an accelerated nursing program that focused on operating room technology and received hands-on training in the surgery department. Their tasks include the following: sterilization of instruments, care of operating room patients, suturing, draping and instrumentation. Operating room technicians also received emergency room training.

To go into detail, they are responsible for making sure that the operating room is ready for surgery. They have to make sure that the equipment, drapes and solutions are sterile. ORTs also take care of the patients, they get them ready for the operation by disinfecting the site of their incision and positioning them on the operating table. And before the operation begins, they assist the surgeon with the gown and gloves. And after the surgery is done, ORTs help the patients recover. They should also restock and reset the operating room with sterile equipment for the next surgical procedure. They should also make sure that all important equipment in the operating room are working and ready-to-use.

After the Korean War, the lack of nurses to serve in operating rooms in the United States paved the way to hiring ex-medics and ex-corpsmen to work in medical stations and hospitals. These ex-medics and ex-corpsmen performed really well as their title evolved from operating room technicians to surgical technologists. The improvement in surgical technology started in the late 1960’s leading the way to this field’s formalization in the 1970’s. Surgical technology became the medical world’s latest buzz.

In the year 1968, the Association of Operating Room Technicians was born and it was composed of two committees: the Joint Committee on Education, and the Liaison Council on Certification for the Surgical Technologist. In 1970, those who passed the exam were given the title Certified Operating Room Technician (CORT or OR Tech). And in the year 1973, the Association of Operating Room Technicians became an independent body and they changed their name to Association of Surgical Technologist. And since then, they have been working to further improve the services of surgical technologists towards excellence.

In the last few years surgical technician careers are becoming more and more popular as the need for skilled technicians grows. Hours, benefits and pay are very respectable. Fresh out of college one can expect an average surgical technician salary close to $34,000 per year and can expect great benefits, vacation time and job security.