Surgical Technology Program

Surgical Technology Program Technical Standards

The Surgical Technology Program has technical standards which are the skills and abilities required for competency evaluation. All must be demonstrated to successfully progress and pass the program.

If you have questions or concerns about your ability to meet the technical standards with or without accommodations, or if you would like to arrange reasonable accommodations, you should contact Disability Services. Applicants who disclose a disability are considered for admission if they are otherwise qualified so long as such accommodation does not significantly alter the essential requirements of the curriculum and the educational program, or significantly affect the safety of patient care or others.

To successfully complete the Surgical Technology program, students must demonstrate their competency in carrying out the tasks necessary for safe and effective practice in the field including:

Observation/Sensory-Motor

• Accurately identify and assess heart, breath, abdominal, and other sounds of the human body
• Accurately assess normal and abnormal color changes in the skin and observe pupil changes
• Accurately differentiate colors and recognize patient odors
• Detect and respond appropriately to activation/warning signals on equipment (including auditory and visual signals)
• Detect significant environmental odors
• Distinguish fine print on various medication labels
• Observe and assess conditions of a patient accurately, at a distance and close at hand, and observe non- verbal communication when performing nursing assessments and interventions or when medications are administered
• Observe and participate in all demonstrations and experiments in the basic sciences including computer assisted instruction
• Observe digital or waveform readings
• Perceive signs of disease and/or infection as manifested through physical examination including visual images of the body surfaces, palpable changes in various organs and tissues, and auditory information (patient voice, heart sounds, bowel and lung sounds)
• Read gradients/calibrations on a syringe
• Accurately hear and interpret surgeons’ and team members’ muffled communication while wearing face masks without reading lips

Communication

• Communicate and read accurately and effectively in English with other students, faculty, staff, patients, families and other professionals in a culturally sensitive manner
• Communicate effectively in classroom presentations, seminars, simulation, practicum sites, practicum conferences, and online-formats
• Convey or exchange accurate information in a clear and efficient manner to obtain a health history, identify problems presented, and explain alternative solutions
• Effectively communicate with and respond appropriately to other healthcare professionals’ questions, requests, and directions in classroom, lab and clinical settings
• Process and communicate information on the patient’s status including changes in mood, activity and posture and non-verbal communications with accuracy in a timely manner to members of the health care team
• Demonstrate the ability to handle themselves in all types of stressful situations; be calm and quiet, yet responsive, and be able to exhibit respect, concern and compassion for peers, staff and patients.

Psychomotor

• Adjust and operate diagnostic or therapeutic devices by manipulating knobs, dials, and keyboards
• Assemble medical equipment and supplies
• Coordinate fine and gross muscular movements to treat patients in emergency situations
• Engage in patient care delivery in all settings and deliver care to all patient populations including but not limited to children, adolescents, adults, individuals with disabilities, medically compromised patients and vulnerable adults
• Execute physical movements required to provide general care and treatment to all patients in all health care settings
• Safely move, lift and position heavy and/or large equipment, supplies and patients without assistive devices
• Operate equipment typically found in the health care environment including IV pumps, cardiac monitors, and electric and manual blood pressure equipment, safe handling equipment, operating room beds and stretchers and other equipment in the OR
• Perform basic life support, ventilation/compression (including CPR and AED), and other basic life support functions
• Respond to emergencies precisely, consistently, accurately, and quickly
• Safely assist a patient in moving from one place or another
• Transfer patients from bed to chair, bed to stretcher, stretcher to operating room bed
• Transport patients in wheelchairs and stretchers as necessary
• Push heavy equipment such as microscopes, C-arms, endoscopy towers and operating room tables
• Demonstrate stamina to stand in one place for long periods of time with minimal or no breaks
• Safely maneuver in small confined sterile spaces
• Ambulate unassisted without use of canes, crutches or assistive devices
• Perform appropriate manual dexterity with both fingers and hands to accurately load sharps and needles, pass surgical instruments and manipulate equipment safely
• Effectively perform tasks of scrubbing, gowning, gloving, set up of sterile field and functions of the surgical technologist within the sterile field

Intellectual-Conceptual, Integrative, and Quantitative

• Accurately perform mathematical calculations and calculate medication dosages
• Exercise factual, conceptual, procedural, and metacognitive knowledge
• Effectively prioritize multiple tasks
• Effectively take doctors’ orders
• Exercise good judgment in patient assessment
• Manage the demands of time constraints and frequent interruptions
• Measure, calculate, reason, analyze, integrate, synthesize and problem solve in the context of the level and the focus of their curricular program
• Perform data entry tasks using available technology
• Perform universal precautions against contamination
• Provide all aspects of patient care in the hospital setting
• Provide clear expression of personal ideas and feelings, demonstrations of bidirectional feedback, and sensitivity to persons with ideas and experiences that different from their own
• Use and interpret information from assessment techniques/maneuvers such as those involved in assessing respiratory and cardiac function, blood pressure, neurological status,
• Use and interpret information related to physiologic phenomena generated from diagnostic tools (sphygmomanometer, otoscope, ophthalmoscope) during a comprehensive examination of a patient

Professionalism

• Interact effectively with individuals of all ages, races, genders, socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds with respect for individual differences
• Effectively cope with demands of supervision, productivity, and heavy workloads with respect for duty
• Demonstrate respect, concern and compassion for peers, staff, and patients
• Adhere to the Great Falls College MSU Student Code of Conduct and the Surgical Technology Handbook
• Adhere to the Code of Ethics established by the Association of Surgical Technologists
• Demonstrate social responsibility and accountability
• Use diligence when performing tasks; being careless or reckless could cost a patient’s life
• Students must possess the capacity to be creative, adaptable, and resourceful, as well as believe in the highest standards of care and uphold the values of personal responsibility, honesty, integrity, ethical behavior, trust, and professionalism
• Exhibit emotional stability in stressful situations
• Function effectively under stress and to adapt to an environment that may change rapidly without warning and/or in unpredictable ways
• Maintain appropriate professional decorum in high stress situations and when exposed to unusual sights and smells
• Maintain confidentiality regarding all phases of work
• Exhibit and maintain a surgical conscience; the ethical and professional responsibility to uphold the highest standards of patient care and safety in the operating room

Occupational Exposure /Safety Skills

• Understand that you will be participating in real surgical interventions during your clinical rotations and there is an inherent risk of being exposed to airborne or blood-borne pathogens
• Occupational risks and exposures come from:
  • blood and body fluids, sharps, communicable and infectious diseases, ionizing radiation, anesthetic gases, smoke plume, chemotherapy drugs, latex, electromagnetic fields, formalin, disinfecting solutions, and unpleasant sites and odors
• Demonstrate safety regarding occupational risks and exposures and practice the ability to self-protect by using standard precautions and personal protective equipment when encountering patients and hazardous materials
• Practice the proper use of personal protective equipment when needed and wear them for duration of your shift
  • tight fitting mask, lead apron, safety googles, two pair of surgical gloves, and hair covering