The ARC/STSA Board of Directors is the governing body for the Accreditation Review Council on Surgical Technology and Surgical Assisting—the only Committee on Accreditation (CoA) recognized by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP) to determine recommended accreditation action on Surgical Technology and Surgical Assisting programs.
National Surgical Technologists Week is arguably the most important week of surgical technology students’ training. It is the time to emphasize the importance of our profession, certification, and the tremendous value we bring to the operating room team.
National Surgical Technologist Week is filled with special recognition for students at Glendale Career College (GCC) in Glendale, California. At GCC, NSTW has been an annual event for the past 25 years. Students are recognized for their outstanding academic achievements and the campus shows its appreciating with special events, including visits from local surgeons who are active in the Program Advisory Committee for Surgical Technology.
To be a surgical technologist and celebrate every year during our National Surgical Technologists Week is truly an honor. Surgical technologists play a vital role in patient care during surgical procedures, and it is surprising to see how few people know who we are and what we do.
Since 2005, the ARC/STSA Board of Directors annually awards multiple scholarships as part of its commitment to the advancement of surgical technology and surgical assisting education. The ARC/STSA Scholarship Program is designed to assist surgical technology and surgical assisting student members and educators in their pursuit of higher education in the professions. At the March 2016 meeting, the Board of Directors awarded $5,050 (combined) in scholarships.
The ARC/STSA Board of Directors recently reviewed the thresholds for, and beginning August 1, 2016, implemented changes to, the graduate and employer outcomes in response to in-depth data analysis and solicited program director feedback.
Preceptors are the seasoned surgical technologists and surgical assistants who have worked in the operating room for a particular service, such as neuro, obstetrics and gynecology, vascular, general and ENT, and have mastered the techniques used by most, if not all, of the surgeons that have privileges. The preceptor is one of the most important and relevant members of the healthcare education team.
In the May issue of the e-newsletter, we asked readers to tell us how long it takes to fill out the online annual report once all the required information is collected.
Whew! Your annual report is submitted. You just graduated another class. Your grads are happily starting their first jobs as brand new certified surgical technologists. Now you can relax for a bit before you have to get ready for the next enrollment. But wait: Your clinical coordinator just informed you he’s resigning and moving away from your community. Your calm transition into the next academic year now has the potential for chaos. No matter what your role is in the faculty hiring process, here are a few tips to get your new instructor up and running ASAP.
One of the reasons I left the operating room behind for a teaching career was because everything became too technical. I was spending more time figuring out why the image on the monitor was unclear than I was caring for my patients. When I went back to school, I found myself smack dab in the middle of classes learning about distance learning and wondering about its application in surgical technology education.
