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Surgical Assistants

It's a bright outlook for

This career will grow rapidly in the next few years.

Learn more about what they do.

Assist in operations, under the supervision of surgeons. May, in accordance with state laws, help surgeons to make incisions and close surgical sites, manipulate or remove tissues, implant surgical devices or drains, suction the surgical site, place catheters, clamp or cauterize vessels or tissue, and apply dressings to surgical site.

Related: Anesthesiologist Assistants Cardiovascular Technologists & Technicians Emergency Medical Technicians Paramedics Surgical Technologists

Industries: Health & Counseling

Summary
Details

Coordinate or participate in the positioning of patients, using body stabilizing equipment or protective padding to provide appropriate exposure for the procedure or to protect against nerve damage or circulation impairment.
Maintain an unobstructed operative field, using surgical retractors, sponges, or suctioning and irrigating equipment.
Assist in volume replacement or autotransfusion techniques.
Cover patients with surgical drapes to create and maintain a sterile operative field.
Verify the identity of patient or operative site.
Prepare and apply sterile wound dressings.
Clamp, ligate, or cauterize blood vessels to control bleeding during surgical entry, using hemostatic clamps, suture ligatures, or electrocautery equipment.
Assess skin integrity or other body conditions upon completion of the procedure to determine if damage has occurred from body positioning.
Clamp, ligate, or cauterize blood vessels to control bleeding during surgical entry, using hemostatic clamps, suture ligatures, or electrocautery equipment.
Gather, arrange, or assemble instruments or supplies.
Postoperatively inject a subcutaneous local anesthetic agent to reduce pain.
Transport patients to operating room.
Assist members of surgical team with gowning or gloving.
Monitor patient intra-operative status, including patient position, vital signs, or volume and color of blood.
Assist in the insertion, positioning, or suturing of closed-wound drainage systems.
Monitor and maintain aseptic technique throughout procedures.
Discuss with surgeon the nature of the surgical procedure, including operative consent, methods of operative exposure, diagnostic or laboratory data, or patient-advanced directives or other needs.
Prepare and apply sterile wound dressings.
Adjust and maintain operating room temperature, humidity, or lighting, according to surgeon's specifications.
Pass instruments or supplies to surgeon during procedure.
Coordinate or participate in the positioning of patients, using body stabilizing equipment or protective padding to provide appropriate exposure for the procedure or to protect against nerve damage or circulation impairment.
Determine availability of necessary equipment or supplies for operative procedures.
Assess skin integrity or other body conditions upon completion of the procedure to determine if damage has occurred from body positioning.
Assist in applying casts, splints, braces, or similar devices.
Postoperatively inject a subcutaneous local anesthetic agent to reduce pain.
Adjust and maintain operating room temperature, humidity, or lighting, according to surgeon's specifications.
Incise tissue layers in lower extremities to harvest veins.
Apply sutures, staples, clips, or other materials to close skin, facia, or subcutaneous wound layers.
Assess skin integrity or other body conditions upon completion of the procedure to determine if damage has occurred from body positioning.
Remove patient hair or disinfect incision sites to prepare patient for surgery.
Assist members of surgical team with gowning or gloving.
Assist with patient resuscitation during cardiac arrest or other life-threatening events.
Coordinate with anesthesia personnel to maintain patient temperature.
Insert or remove urinary bladder catheters.
Obtain or inspect sterile or non-sterile surgical equipment, instruments, or supplies.
Operate sterilizing devices.

Negotiation
- Bringing people together to solve differences.
Reading Comprehension
- Reading work-related information.
Critical Thinking
- Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.
Equipment Maintenance
- Planning and doing the basic maintenance on equipment.
Monitoring
- Keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements.
Installation
- Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs.
Repairing
- Repairing machines or systems using the right tools.
Judgment and Decision Making
- Thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one.
Coordination
- Changing what is done based on other people's actions.
Systems Analysis
- Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it.
Time Management
- Managing your time and the time of other people.
Speaking
- Talking to others.
Programming
- Writing computer programs.
Writing
- Writing things for co-workers or customers.
Learning Strategies
- Using the best training or teaching strategies for learning new things.
Management of Material Resources
- Managing equipment and materials.
Technology Design
- Making equipment and technology useful for customers.
Social Perceptiveness
- Understanding people's reactions.
Complex Problem Solving
- Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.
Management of Personnel Resources
- Selecting and managing the best workers for a job.
Science
- Using scientific rules and strategies to solve problems.
Operations Analysis
- Figuring out what a product or service needs to be able to do.
Operation and Control
- Using equipment or systems.
Instructing
- Teaching people how to do something.
Management of Financial Resources
- Making spending decisions and keeping track of what is spent.
Mathematics
- Using math to solve problems.
Operations Monitoring
- Watching gauges, dials, or display screens to make sure a machine is working.
Service Orientation
- Looking for ways to help people.
Quality Control Analysis
- Testing how well a product or service works.
Active Listening
- Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.
Active Learning
- Figuring out how to use new ideas or things.
Equipment Selection
- Deciding what kind of tools and equipment are needed to do a job.
Troubleshooting
- Figuring out what is causing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs to not work.
Persuasion
- Talking people into changing their minds or their behavior.
Systems Evaluation
- Measuring how well a system is working and how to improve it.

Oral Comprehension
- Listening and understanding what people say.
Arm-Hand Steadiness
- Keeping your arm or hand steady.
Information Ordering
- Ordering or arranging things.
Finger Dexterity
- Putting together small parts with your fingers.
Response Orientation
- Quickly deciding if you should move your hand, foot, or other body part.
Static Strength
- Lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying.
Extent Flexibility
- Bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Far Vision
- Seeing details that are far away.
Auditory Attention
- Paying attention to one sound while there are other distracting sounds.
Mathematical Reasoning
- Choosing the right type of math to solve a problem.
Multilimb Coordination
- Using your arms and/or legs together while sitting, standing, or lying down.
Problem Sensitivity
- Noticing when problems happen.
Flexibility of Closure
- Seeing hidden patterns.
Speed of Limb Movement
- Quickly moving your arms and legs.
Sound Localization
- Noticing the direction that a sound came from.
Trunk Strength
- Using your lower back and stomach.
Glare Sensitivity
- Seeing something even if there is a glare or very bright light.
Night Vision
- Seeing at night or under low light.
Dynamic Flexibility
- Quickly and repeatedly bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Gross Body Coordination
- Moving your arms, legs, and mid-section together while your whole body is moving.
Stamina
- Exercising for a long time without getting out of breath.
Category Flexibility
- Grouping things in different ways.
Memorization
- Remembering words, numbers, pictures, or steps.
Selective Attention
- Paying attention to something without being distracted.
Written Comprehension
- Reading and understanding what is written.
Wrist-Finger Speed
- Making fast, simple, repeated movements of your fingers, hands, and wrists.
Explosive Strength
- Jumping, sprinting, or throwing something.
Near Vision
- Seeing details up close.
Dynamic Strength
- Exercising for a long time without your muscles getting tired.
Deductive Reasoning
- Using rules to solve problems.
Speed of Closure
- Quickly knowing what you are looking at.
Visualization
- Imagining how something will look after it is moved around or changed.
Time Sharing
- Doing two or more things at the same time.
Gross Body Equilibrium
- Keeping your balance or staying upright.
Peripheral Vision
- Seeing something to your side when your are looking ahead.
Speech Clarity
- Speaking clearly.
Oral Expression
- Communicating by speaking.
Perceptual Speed
- Quickly comparing groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things.
Spatial Orientation
- Knowing where things are around you.
Fluency of Ideas
- Coming up with lots of ideas.
Originality
- Creating new and original ideas.
Inductive Reasoning
- Making general rules or coming up with answers from lots of detailed information.
Manual Dexterity
- Holding or moving items with your hands.
Depth Perception
- Deciding which thing is closer or farther away from you, or deciding how far away it is from you.
Speech Recognition
- Recognizing spoken words.
Visual Color Discrimination
- Noticing the difference between colors, including shades and brightness.
Hearing Sensitivity
- Telling the difference between sounds.
Reaction Time
- Quickly moving your hand, finger, or foot based on a sound, light, picture or other command.
Written Expression
- Communicating by writing.
Control Precision
- Quickly changing the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat.
Rate Control
- Changing when and how fast you move based on how something else is moving.
Number Facility
- Adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing.

Customer and Personal Service
- Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
Education and Training
- Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
Administration and Management
- Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
Mechanical
- Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
Physics
- Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub-atomic structures and processes.
Sociology and Anthropology
- Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.
Geography
- Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.
Medicine and Dentistry
- Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.
Philosophy and Theology
- Knowledge of different philosophical systems and religions. This includes their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and their impact on human culture.
Law and Government
- Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
Fine Arts
- Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.
Production and Processing
- Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
Biology
- Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
Psychology
- Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
Building and Construction
- Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.
History and Archeology
- Knowledge of historical events and their causes, indicators, and effects on civilizations and cultures.
Sales and Marketing
- Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
Economics and Accounting
- Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
Computers and Electronics
- Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
Telecommunications
- Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.
Mathematics
- Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
Chemistry
- Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods.
Public Safety and Security
- Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
Administrative
- Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.
Food Production
- Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.
Therapy and Counseling
- Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.
Personnel and Human Resources
- Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
English Language
- Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, and rules of composition and grammar.
Engineering and Technology
- Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.
Foreign Language
- Knowledge of the structure and content of a foreign (non-English) language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition and grammar, and pronunciation.
Communications and Media
- Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
Design
- Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
Transportation
- Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.

Education

Postsecondary certificate

Work Experience

No work experience

Training

No on-the-job training

Education and Training Opportunities

Washington Annual Salary

69060/yr

Washington Hourly Wage

33.2/hr

Currently Employed

26,600

Yearly Projected Openings

1600

Realistic: People interested in this work like activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions. They do well at jobs that need:

Perseverance
Stress Tolerance
Self-Control
Cooperation
Cautiousness
Integrity

Autotransfusion units
Blanket or solution warmer cabinets
Blood warming or transfusion systems
Cardiac output CO monitoring units
Cardiac pacemaker generators or cardiac resynchronization therapy pacemakers CRT-P
Cast cutters or saws
Chemical or gas sterilizers
Desktop computers
Diagnostic or interventional vascular catheters for general use
Electronic medical thermometers
Electrosurgical or electrocautery equipment
Endoscopic hemostatic balloons or needles or tubes or accessories
Endoscopic instrument sets
Endoscopic video cameras or recorders or adapters or accessories
Eyemagnets for ophthalmic surgery
Goggles
Hospital intercom systems
Hypodermic injection apparatus
Intravenous or arterial fluid warmers
Intravenous tubing with catheter administration kits
Lap mayo trays or mayo stands for surgical use
Laparoscopes or laparoscopic telescopes
Medical carts
Medical imaging dry laser printers or imagers
Medical staff isolation or cover gowns
Medical staplers for internal use
Mobile medical services automated external defibrillators AED or hard paddles
Notebook computers
Operating room patient fracture tables or orthopedic tables
Operating room patient positioning devices for general use
Operating room patient procedure tables
Pagers
Patient stretchers
Personal computers
Special purpose telephones
Specimen collection container
Steam autoclaves or sterilizers
Surgical clamps or clips or forceps
Surgical dermatomes or dermabraders or dermameshers
Surgical drains or drain sets
Surgical drapes
Surgical gloves
Surgical isolation or surgical masks
Surgical lasers
Surgical nerve stimulators
Surgical pneumatic or battery or electric saws or drills or pin drivers
Surgical pneumatic or electric tourniquets
Surgical power equipment sets
Surgical retractors
Surgical scalpels or knives or blades or trephines
Surgical shave kits or prep razors or clippers
Surgical suction machine or vacuum extractor or ultrasonic surgical aspirator
Surgical trocars for general use
Suturing kits or trays or packs or sets
Therapeutic heating or cooling units or systems
Urinary catheterization kits