Surgical Support

What Is Surgical Support?

The support staff on a surgical team is very important to the success of an operation. If you’d like to be part of a very important function in the health care community, you might want to consider a career as a Surgical Technician (sometimes called an Operating Room Tech)—the person who prepares both the patient and the operating room for surgery.  Other possible surgical support positions are the Perfusionist who operates the hear-lung machine, and, of course, the Operating Room Nurse and other professionals including the Anesthesiologist or Nurse Anesthetist, interns and medical students, the Physician Assistant, and the Surgeon; most of these positions are listed under different “career fields” on this website.

There are all kinds of career opportunities at various education levels, from the certificate or Associate’s degree up to the MD degree and beyond.  To work as a member of the Surgical Support team you need to be a focused person with finger dexterity, a clear communicator, able to work well in a group, and someone who can be calm in an emergency.  It’s also important that you are not squeamish around blood and other body fluids and materials.