Surgical Technologist, Labor and Delivery at Northside Hospital

Overview

The surgical technologist handles the instruments, supplies, and equipment necessary during the surgical procedure. Helps to ensure patient safety and quality of care by performing various tasks and duties that provide technical assistance and support to medical/surgical staff and personnel during and in the turnover of surgical procedures. Specializes in multiple surgical services lines and potentially works with neonates, pediatric, adolescent, adult and geriatric patients.

Responsibilities

Core Duties

• Provides care and/or service to patients undergoing surgical intervention without regard to age, race, or gender.

• Assists the surgical team before, during, and after procedures.

• Reviewing supplies and equipment

• Setting up surgical equipment

• Preparing patients for surgery

• Positioning the patient

• Completing surgical skin preps

• Draping sterile field

• Maintaining sterile techniques, recognizing breaks in technique, and takes steps to regain sterility.

• Organizing and passing instruments, supplies, equipment, medication, and solutions

• Ensuring management of the surgical specimen

• Performing appropriate surgical counts with circulating nurse.

• May serve in the first or second scrub role

• Cleaning the operating rooms in preparation for subsequent surgical procedures.

• Transporting patients or specimens as necessary.

• Transporting clean and dirty equipment and supplies.

• Practices proper safety techniques in accordance with hospital and departmental policies and procedures. Immediately reports any mechanical or electrical equipment malfunctions, unsafe conditions, or employee/patient/visitor injury accident to supervisor.

• When Assigned to the Expeditor Role:
• Completes case cart with all supplies and instruments required for scheduled cases at least 30 minutes prior to subsequent scheduled case start.
• Obtains instruments used on previous case that will be needed for subsequent case and delivers to Instrument Tech for cleaning and sterilizing
• At end of case, delivers dirty case cart/instruments to appropriate soiled holding location.
• At end of case, places unused clean supplies in appropriate area
• Retrieves extra supplies and equipment that are not listed on preference card. Facilitates changes in preference card to reflect needed items
• Ensures that required equipment and supplies are on hand for scheduled cases,
• Aids with room setup
• Supports the rapid turnover of surgical procedures at the direction of OR leadership.
• Removes any unnecessary equipment, returning it to designated storage areas.

Labor and Delivery

• Performs various patient care activities for the patient in labor including obtaining vital signs, performing catheterizations, obtaining urine specimens, performing perineal care, and performing skin preps for surgical procedures; assists patients as necessary with position changes and ambulation.

• Performs various patient care activities related to newborn care to include immediate care which involves drying, warming, and observation and performing identification, measurement (inches and pounds), eye care, bathing, and other related activities.

• Assembles equipment and supplies for procedures using aseptic techniques.

• Assists physicians and nurses during vaginal deliveries by performing various tasks including preparing and monitoring patients and operating suction and other equipment.

• Performs Surgical technologist function for surgical procedures including cesarean deliveries, tubal ligations, and hysterectomies; sets‑up sterile field, passes instruments and surgical items to physician, and performs surgical counts; and, assists with cleaning the OR rooms in preparation for subsequent surgical procedures.

• Transports patients and newborns to assigned rooms and/or nursery.

• Maintains a clean, neat, and safe environment which involves, but is not limited to, such activities as tidying rooms, cleaning equipment, restocking linens and other supplies and materials (in assigned areas and as otherwise necessary), preparing rooms, and keeping utility and equipments rooms, and hallways neat and clean.

• Obtains information as necessary to initiate routine admission procedure.

Qualifications

REQUIRED

• High school diploma, equivalent education (GED) or post-secondary education

• Must hold American Heart Association’s Basic Cardiac Life Support (BLS).

• Visual color acuity screening depending on the role in specific units.

• Graduate of an accredited surgical technology program and working as a Surgical Technologist with one (1) year of experience.

OR

Three (3) years of full-time employment within the last seven (7) years in an Operating Room setting working as a Surgical Technologist.

PREFERRED

• Certification as a Certified Surgical Technologist (CST) through the National Board of Surgical Technology and Surgical Assisting (NBSTSA) or Technologist in Surgery- Certified (TS-C) through the National Center for Competency Testing (NCCT)

Work Hours

7AM-7PM