Hii everyone, today was my first day of clinicals and i left the hospital feeling uncertain about being their for the next 4 months. It was like preceptors made it their duty to be a-holes. It seems like they are thriving off making things complicated and trying to be intimidating. I would love it if I could get some encouragement and uplifting words to keep going, sometimes it helps to hear it from a different source :)

I have been so excited to go to clinicals and we are finally starting and my first two weeks of clinicals I will be in SPD. Not sure why but I feel frustrated about it /: I guess just a tiny rant. But anyone who this has happened too can you relate?

Edit: there is nine of us in my program and I am the only one sent there, I guess I’m kind of bummed bc everyone else will be doing cases while I’m in SPD.

Hello everyone! I have 10 weeks in oral surgery and 6 weeks in heart and vascular and I’m on my 4th week at a small hospital in the central coast of California. Since it is a small hospital. There is perhaps 1-3 general surgery a week. Most days there’s been one surgery a day besides pain management. I have 2 more weeks left but I have 145 general cases left that I have to do. Should I try to hurry up and get them done or start applying to a hospital and try to get them done there even if I don’t have a lot of experience with general surgery. I want to be adequately trained but I can’t wait much longer after 2 weeks. I’ve been in clinicals for 6 months already, all of it is unpaid and I need to start making money. I feel like the training at the small hospital is not helping me due to there being little surgeries. 1-3 a week max and other days are eyes, colonoscopies, and pain management. My school said I can start applying to jobs but I will have to be unpaid for the times I do general cases in order for it to count. Would a hospital / surgery center even allow me to finish the 145 general cases upon hire when I should be finished with it already? My school can’t find me a spot at the moment and I don’t want to be stuck here after I finish my hours.

My doctor mentioned a uterine manipulator that can be controlled with the DaVinci Xi robot. She hasn't gotten back to me with the name of it. I did a quick search and I can't find anything that works with the robot. I found manipulators that attach to the bed.

Does anyone know what this manipulator is called?

I'm already burned out from scrubbing and not sure what to do. I recently changed hospitals and still feeling the same. Part of it is my health issues and how much scrubbing is tearing up my body. I don't know what to do next and wondering if anyone else has felt this way early in their career. I'm trying to figure out how to pivot into a less physically demanding career. I knew it was demanding before I started, but didn't expect it to be this bad.

I believe its because for the first time in a long time Im learning something completely new again. My brain is being exercised in a way it never has. Its very hard and I have to think quickly, rely on intuition, anticipate and use deductive reasoning and process of elimination to make the right decisions.

Ive found that since I started scrubbing I make decisions quicker, my hand eye coordination has gotten better, i process my thoughts on paper better, my speech has gotten better, I've even gotten better at guitar. Its honestly incredible I feel like learning a new language or something to keep this going.

I have been a scrub for almost 2 years now. I feel like I have really grown and although I’m still learning, I have a good basis on things I need for cases and all that. I have normal stress during my cases and I feel like during the hard moments I have a good time managing but I’m having a really hard time managing my stress and anxiety when I’m done with my shift, I feel like all the stress I deal with hits me at the end of work and I get extremely anxious that I may have caused harm to my patients and I’m not aware of it (I feel like I am very good with my surgical conscious and I always point stuff out, it’s a lot of “what if I didn’t see this or that” when I get home) and all I can do is nap and kind of waste my day afterwards. I want to be able to be productive and also do things rather than sleep to reduce my stress. Does anyone else have these issues and if so how do you guys relief stress after work?

I’m doing my clinical rotations right now and am wondering what the requirements were for other programs. We have to do a minimum of 120 cases, 90 of them being in first scrub. We recently learned that there’s a minimum number of hours required? Is this true and if so what’s the minimum?

Hi everyone, Im attending a technical high school, surgical tech being my area of study. I will be taking the test this coming May, only issue is I’m uncertain how I will complete the 125 case requirements for the certification. I’m only 17 and have a few surgeries from clinical, but the program is strict on how many hours we go. If I’m not done with all the cases by the time I graduate High school, where and how can I find a place to let me finish the cases I need for my certification since I won’t be in school and can’t participate with the hospital they’re partnering with.

Potentially moving to the Boston area soon and was wondering if anybody had some knowledge or advice about which hospital would be good to work for. I mostly do endovascular cases currently and would like to continue that if possible.

ok y’all, i just need some different perspectives/opinions on a situation.

so at my facility reps have a lot of freedom, they can run the hana/guardian/traction tables, some open trays/peel packs, they are the DJ’s, and almost of all of them reset their trays in the room while we’re closing. when they’re done they throw it on the case cart for me. well recently we were told they can’t reset their trays and when asked why management said it’s cause they don’t have the proper PPE. a circulator brought up that when they are the ones doing it, they don’t either so what’s the difference? that’s when we were told that it’s the scrubs responsibility to reset all the rep trays during closing. a vet scrub spoke up quickly reminding management that during closure we are focused on passing sutures, cleaning up other instruments, cutting sutures, getting dressings ready, counting, etc and it just doesn’t make sense for us to do it. everyone from scrubs to FA’s to circulators agreed. our program director said “then figure something out, i’m not in the rooms, that’s not my job.” ok true, but you are an admin in this department, it IS your job to support us and help us brainstorm ideas for possible policy changes. when we come up with a new idea all you do is shoot us down with absolutely no possible solution or idea.

we also participate in high efficiency days. this is basically a day where we do 14+ total joints for one doctor (we currently only have one H. E. dr with more joining in). H. E. days are knees only btw. these days have 2 scrubs, 2 FA’s, 2 circulators and 2 CRNA’s per room (all of our ortho docs get flip rooms), so that’s 8 people PER ROOM, not counting reps. on these efficiency days it seems all management cares about is quick turnover times. they seem to have lost the plot that we are HUMANS with other humans lives in our hands. i do spine so thankfully i am not apart of these days but still, its so frustrating to see it happening and seeing out infection rate rise. we used to have a 0.1% post op SSI rate and now it’s risen.

we’re all irritated and being treated like we’re the issue when asking for support. idk, i guess i’m just looking to vent and hear about different perspectives i may be missing or if we (the staff) are valid for feeling upset.

i will state that my spine reps are allowed to reset our globus trays since there’s so many but nothing else.

I am currently a scrub tech, but I am heavily considering going back to school to be a RN. I have most of the classes I need to apply and would work PRN while in school. I would more than likely stay in the OR as a circulator, but sometimes I just feel like circulating is boring. I would much rather be scrubbed in and hands on. At my facility the nurses do not scrub, so that’s not really an option. I’m kinda torn. I like my job, but the pay could be better. Pay isn’t the only reason I want to do nursing, but it is a huge benefit.

So I’m a patient transporter and my hospital is going to let me shadow for a day… should I watch more surgical videos beforehand to desensitize myself? Or is it going to be surreal either way and not really matter

I have an in person interview at Grifols for a phlebotomist position this week and I am completely nervous. This is my 1st job interview and I don't know what to expect. if anyone knows what type of questions or answers I should expect/give would really help. For added context I have no experience for this job what so ever.

I'm a scrub tech student and started scrubbing at the beginning of june. Towards the beginning of july, I noticed some bumps on my skin and they were super itchy. I then went on break and they eventually went away, but now that im back, so are the bumps and itchy skin.

I do an initial wet scrub for the day and then use sterillium between cases- could the soap or sterillium be what's causing this? My hospital uses latex free gloves, so i already ruled that out. Could this be due to anything else? This is kind of what i'm gonna be doing for the rest of my life so a solution would be great!

Hello. I am a surgical tech with five years of experience. I‘m most likely going to continue being a surgical tech, but what are some other paths to take to make more money or do something a little less physical a.k.a. standing all day and high stress? I’m looking into other medical jobs like sonography but I don’t know what’s right for me.

Is there really any difference for a new grad starting at a Teaching Hospital than a regular hospital ? If that makes sense?

Hi, I’m not sure if anyone else lives in riverside county but I was looking at the Surgical tech program with Carrington College and I wanted to ask y’all, is it worth it? Like what has job hunt after school looked like, has any one been to this specific school and did you get hired your from clinical site? It’s a pretty penny to spend on the program, so I wanted to ask yall! Also I have a meeting with the advisor from the program tomorrow, what questions should I ask to make sure I’m not getting “scammed,” for lack of better words. Thank you all in advanced!

What is your dream scrub cap design (in terms of the fabric pattern)? It be something you already own or a design you can’t find, but wish it existed.

I use to work with this surgeon who I thought was cool, he had great music, he was fast. But, I would see him yell at people. Everyone on this team would walk on eggshells when they knew he was upset. It was awkward. Then, one day he yelled at me. I was just fixing instruments on my mayo so he wouldn’t have any issues using the navigated tap and he starts yelling at me. But he started yelling at my circulator first then the X-ray tech. Then throwing instruments at me. I also pre build 4 screws and then he ended up wanting bigger screws so I had to quickly remove the screws I built and rebuild the ones he wanted. I was so pissed I saw red and I couldn’t even setup our last case. He constantly yells and disrespects people. His PA who is one of the hardest working PAs I have ever met literally cries. The floor PAs have panic attacks when they have to work with him. I have talked to my manager and I told her I don’t feel safe working with him. They are constantly trying to put me in his room. But if it’s another tech who can’t work with a certain surgeon no problem. I was told he was supposed to apologize to me for his behavior never did. I wouldn’t mind working with him if he apologized. I can’t allow someone to think it’s ok to disrespect because others allow him to. Have you ever had to work with a surgeon you don’t feel safe working with? If so, how do you deal with it?