What is involved in surgical technologist certification? Once qualified as a Surgical Technologist and you have gone through one of the three basic routes to qualification as a Surgical Technologist; the first route is to study for a certificate, the second route is to study for a diploma and the third route is to study for a foundation degree, then you can apply for Surgical Technologist certification.
What’s the difference you may ask between the three levels of Surgical Technologist qualification? Well, all three routes, once successfully completed, will mean that you are qualified as a Surgical Technologist and you can apply for Surgical Technologist Certification but as you may expect they do not carry the same weight. Some surgeons when hiring a Surgical Technologist will only want to recruit Surgical Technologists who have the Surgical Technologist qualification at foundation degree level. The same requirements may also be imposed for the higher paying jobs or jobs that are seen as prime jobs in the market.
Before applying for Surgical Technologist certification, you need to become fully qualified, you need to undertake a course at a school which is an accredited school, this is most important, that the school where you study is accredited otherwise your qualification will not be recognized by potential employers. You can find a detailed list of schools who are accredited by visiting Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP) website, they have a great list of schools and you can even search for a school by the type of Surgical Technologist certification you are after.
If you decide to go for Surgical Technologist qualification at the certificate level your course can take up to a year to complete and there are generally no entry requirements but you should have an interest in and have studied maths and science at school. For the diploma level of Surgical Technologist qualification the course duration is normally around fifteen months and this is the intermediate level of Surgical Technologist qualification. Surgical Technologist qualification at foundation degree level will take around two years to complete and this is a great level to qualify as a Surgical Technologist.
So what’s next in your career as a Surgical Technologist? Certification is the answer. To achieve Surgical Technologist certification you need to sit an exam, there are a number of organizations that offer nationally recognized exams. The National Board of Surgical Technology and Surgical Assisting (NBSTSA) are one such organisation that offers the exam. The exam is a multiple choice exam which is computer based, to be eligible to sit the exam you need to have an Accrediting Bureau of Health Education Schools (ABHES) accredited degree or Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP) from an approved educational institution. Successfully passing the exam; which is sat by appointment at many testing facilities throughout the US enables you to be a Certified Surgical Technologist (CST).
As a surgical technologist you will be able to help patients and doctors, and achieving proper surgical technologist certification is an important step to securing a rewarding job as a surgical technologist.