Think of that classic scene of surgery in a movie or a TV show. There’s a doctor calling for things. Scalpel. Clamp. Rib spreader.
The person trained to get all of that for the doctor is the surgical tech, and in Utah there’s a program that pays students to learn the skills to support surgeons - with a guaranteed job at the end.
“They have a bird's eye view of what's going on in the operating room.” Maryann Douglas with Intermountain Health is talking about surgical techs, the folks who hand surgeons the tools they need and who set up the whole procedure.
“They are the role that organizes all the sterile equipment supplies, hands them to the surgeon is asked, help set up clean up and keep patients safe.”
Douglas needs to staff surgical teams across much of Intermountain Health.
“We've read that you add about 10,000 words to your vocabulary when you take on this surgical technologist training. So think of all of that that they're learning,” said Douglas.
Starting in June, Intermountain rebooted a program to hire and pay 15 students at a time.
“So, we have a range of ages from 50 down to 19 in our first class,” said instructor Shawna Jackson.
Jackson began her surgical tech career. They call themselves “Surge Techs,” in Intermountain’s initial surge tech training program.
“I was a mother and I have four children. And it was hard for me to get back to school, but I did it with the help of Intermountain. And, so, it's really a dream come through for me and it feels like they've come home,” said Jackson.
That's because Jackson is teaching the first cohort of surge tech students in the rebooted training.
“And after nine months, at the end, they will have a full-time job at one of our 23 facilities,” said Douglas.
“It's a really difficult job, but it's also a very rewarding job,” said Jackson.
If this sounds like a good fit for you, you still have time to apply for their class starting in January. Intermountain plans to train 30 surge techs each year in groups of 15. Click here to learn more and apply today.
