Time flies when you're having fun!!

It is hard to believe that the fall semester is quickly coming to a close, as today is the first day of finals for the surgical tech students. Needless to say, each year the time between Thanksgiving Break and Christmas Break at the college goes so quickly. Instructors are trying feverishly to get that last bit of content squeezed in before the end of term, and the students are trying to wrap things up as well.


The past few weeks (which is why I haven't had time to blog!) we have been doing what we call "clinical readiness tests" or "test-outs" in the lab, which is a fairly monumental experience for the students. Clinical readiness involves the student taking each individual skill that they've learned over the semester and applying it to an actual (simulated) surgical procedure. This year we ordered appendectomy surgical simulators. The students are assigned in groups of two; one to perform the circulating role and the other to perform the scrub role. They then are required to pull supplies for the case, open for the case, setup for the case and pass instrumentation according to each appropriate tissue layer for an appendectomy. These procedures really help the students gain confidence in being able to make the transition between performing their skills in a lab setting and going into an actual O.R. with a patient and surgeon. This is my favorite thing to do in the lab all year long. While time consuming (it takes nearly an hour from start to finish for each group) it is so much fun because I get to be the surgeon! I have done so many of these in the past 8 years that I am confident that I really could remove an appendix, I think! However, these procedures usually cause anxiety and nervousness for the students because they have to pass with a 90% or better and they only get 2 chances to pass in order to proceed to clinical next January.

This year the students have done well and have worked really hard to get the procedure down. In fact, a few of them were so relieved and excited after passing, that they asked me and the other instructors to autograph their appendix simulators so that it could be the table centerpiece at Christmas because they were so proud! Now that is a natural, anyone who wants an appendix sitting on their dining room table during Christmas dinner was destined for a career in surgery!

Thank you to my students for all the extra hours and effort you've been putting in the last few weeks of this term. It has paid off and test-outs have gone very well. Each of you has earned a well-deserved three week holiday break and some free time with your families! I will see you before you know it for the start of clinical…real patients, real procedures. You've earned it and are ready. Congrats~! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Dana =)