What Are the Hours Like for the Surgical Technologist?

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Demands

One of the most demanding professions is that of the surgical technologist. Because of continuity of care being of great concern, surgical technologists set up their own procedures and stay with the patients during the time of the procedure. This is a desired practice that is attractive to operating room supervisors as well as surgeons and the nurses in the room who are in charge of all the paper work.

When considering surgery, most people do not have a clue what goes into the preparation of the surgery itself. It might be easy to say if a surgical tech is scheduled to work 7 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. that he or she may arrive at ten minutes until the hour and just go to work like someone already has everything prepared. This is not true.

Arrival

Each morning, a surgical tech must change into scrubs, have a morning meeting with supervisors to find out what the daily schedule looks like, and begin to gather supplies for surgery. In many hospitals, another crew may gather, but there may be certain things missing that must be located and added to supplies. All this preparation takes time. If the surgical tech is not on his or her toes by 6:30 a.m. to gather and check for missing items, when the surgeon arrives expecting a 7:15 cut time, the whole day can be down the drain.

If a bit of overtime is allowed, many techs will arrive early and go ahead and clock in. With supervisory permission, there may even be days that the tech will have to stay late in order to finish up a specialty procedure that he or she has a knack for performing. Surgeons get familiar with particular assistants and like that continuity for their patients.

Hours

Surgical Tech hours, shifts, and days available to work can be incredibly flexible. Surgical technologists’ hours are usually parallel to those of operating room nurses. There are many shifts that are used by different facilities that meet particular needs of that hospital or surgery center. Of course, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. is a preferred shift by most people. 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. shifts are available, but rare. Most surgeries start early, so coming in at 8 a.m. is not beneficial. The 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. shift can be a rewarding one for people who like to sleep late.

The evening shift usually starts at 2:30 p.m., so sponge and needle counts can be done if that person is relieving someone who is leaving at 3 p.m. and may be involved in a surgery that requires an in depth report. It is very frustrating for the person who should be leaving at 3 p.m. to have to wait on the late shift person to come in, count and troubleshoot after being scrubbed in all day. The evening shift employee should be considerate and get scrubbed in and ready to work, so the other person can go home.

In some trauma centers, 12-hour shifts are preferable because of the stress of the job. Some techs enjoy working only 3 days and many hospitals only require 3, 12-hour days in order to get 40 hours. Some require another half shift to complete the 40.

The on call status for every facility is different. It is decided by supervisory personnel and can be very flexible depending upon the unity of the staff. Most people who don’t want to take call seem to be able to give it away. In turn, most people who do want more calls don’t seem to have trouble getting it.

Of course, the dreaded night shift is always the least attractive. It takes a certain kind of person to stay up all night and stay focused on the work in front of them when lives are at stake. However, some people love this shift because it tends to lend more autonomy, even though the workload is a bit harder. Support staff is limited and emergent situations can be very frightening. The tech will also wind up doing more of the work of the ancillary staff like cleaning the room and washing bloody instruments once the procedure is complete.