Surgical Specialities I

Course Description

Surgical Specialities I is an introduction to various surgical specialties and procedures along with specified human anatomy of the area where the surgical procedure is performed.

Within the SCNS taxonomy, STS is the Surgical Technology prefix, and the 0000-level number marks this as PSAV clock-hour instruction. Daytona State publishes it at 66 clock hours, offered fall, with BSC0070 and HSC1531 as prerequisites. ⚠ It carries no college credit.

This is the first of a three-course specialties sequence — STS0120, STS0121, STS0122 — that runs across all three terms of the programme and is its largest body of knowledge. Note how the description pairs specialties with anatomy. That pairing is deliberate and it is the discipline to adopt from the start: surgical anatomy is learned by approach, not by system. Knowing where the ureter runs matters at the moment a particular retractor is placed, and learning anatomy in that order is what makes it usable in a case.

Learning Outcomes

Required Outcomes

• Describe the organisation of surgical practice into specialties.
• Describe the anatomy relevant to each specialty studied.
• Relate surgical approach to the anatomy encountered in sequence.
• Describe common pathological conditions treated surgically in each specialty.
• Describe the indications for the procedures studied.
• Describe the steps of common general surgery procedures.
• Describe patient positioning requirements for each procedure and their rationale.
• Describe positioning injuries and how positioning prevents them.
• Describe skin preparation and draping for each approach.
• Identify instrumentation specific to each specialty studied.
• Assemble an appropriate instrument set for a given procedure.
• Describe specialty-specific equipment and supplies.
• Describe suture materials, needles, and their selection for tissue type.
• Prepare and pass suture correctly.
• Anticipate the surgeon's needs through the steps of a procedure.
• Describe haemostasis methods and the technologist's role in each.
• Describe specimen handling, labelling, and documentation.
• Describe drains, dressings, and wound closure methods.
• Describe potential intraoperative complications and the response to each.
• Apply sterile technique throughout each procedure studied.
• Describe counts as they apply to each specialty.
• Describe medications and solutions used in each specialty.
• Use correct medical and surgical terminology.
• Prepare a case plan for a given procedure.

Optional Outcomes

• Describe emerging techniques within the specialties studied.
• Describe robotic approaches and their instrumentation.
• Describe paediatric variations on the procedures studied.
• Describe trauma variations and emergency presentations.
• Describe imaging used intraoperatively.
• Build a specialty case study portfolio.

Major Topics

Required Topics

• Organisation of surgical specialties
• Specialty anatomy
• Anatomy by surgical approach
• Pathological conditions treated surgically
• Indications for procedures
• General surgery procedures
• Patient positioning and rationale
• Positioning injuries
• Skin preparation and draping
• Specialty instrumentation
• Instrument set assembly
• Specialty equipment and supplies
• Suture materials and needles
• Preparing and passing suture
• Anticipating the surgeon
• Haemostasis methods
• Specimen handling
• Drains, dressings, and closure
• Intraoperative complications
• Sterile technique in practice
• Counts by specialty
• Specialty medications and solutions
• Medical and surgical terminology
• Case planning

Optional Topics

• Emerging techniques
• Robotic approaches
• Paediatric variations
• Trauma and emergency variations
• Intraoperative imaging
• Case study portfolio

Resources & Tools

• Surgical Technology for the Surgical Technologist: A Positive Care Approach (AST) — the core text, and the one the CST examination is built around.
• Alexander's Care of the Patient in Surgery — the comprehensive perioperative reference.
• Berry & Kohn's Operating Room Technique — the standard on technique and sterile practice.
• Surgical Instrumentation (Rutherford) — instrument identification, which is largely a memorisation task and needs a good picture reference.
• AST — Association of Surgical Technologists (ast.org) — the professional body; student membership is inexpensive and includes practice materials.
• NBSTSA (nbstsa.org) — free CST examination content outline and eligibility rules; read the eligibility page before you enrol anywhere.
• ARC/STSA (arcstsa.org) and CAAHEP (caahep.org) — free accreditation lookup; verify your programme.
• AORN (aorn.org) — perioperative nursing body whose Guidelines for Perioperative Practice are the standard the whole room works to.
• Flashcards for instruments, and a study partner — unglamorous and the single most effective study method in this programme.
• Anatomy atlas or app — surgical anatomy is approached by region and approach, not by system, and a visual reference helps.
• Your programme's mock operating room and open lab time — gowning, gloving, and draping are motor skills built only by repetition.

Career Pathways

• Surgical technologist — SOC 29-2055.
• Hospital operating rooms — the largest employer, and where most graduates begin.
• Ambulatory surgery centres — a large and growing Florida sector, frequently with better hours than hospital work.
• Specialty services — cardiovascular, neurosurgery, orthopaedics, and transplant; specialisation raises pay significantly.
• Labour and delivery — caesarean section teams.
• Physician offices and specialty clinics performing procedures.
• Central sterile processing — a related pathway with its own certification.
• Travel surgical technologist — substantially higher pay for mobility, once experienced.
• Surgical first assistant — an advanced role requiring further education and separate credentialing (CSFA); the usual route to higher earnings in this field.
• Medical device and instrument sales or clinical support — companies recruit experienced surgical technologists specifically for operating room credibility.
• Programme instruction — teaching in a surgical technology programme after several years in practice.
• ⚠ Progression to nursing, physician assistant, or other licensed roles requires separate degree programmes, and PSAV clock hours generally do not transfer into them — plan the pathway deliberately if that is the goal.

Special Information

⚠ How to learn specialties — build case plans, not flashcard piles

• The volume of material here is the programme's main academic challenge, and students who try to memorise procedure lists in isolation drown in them.
• Learn each procedure as a sequence with a reason. Position, prep, drape, incision, layers encountered, key steps, closure — and what the surgeon needs at each step. That structure is what turns a list into knowledge you can act on.
• Anatomy by approach, not by system. What lies under the incision, in order, is the question the operating room asks; the textbook chapter order is not.
• Anticipation is the skill being built. A good scrub has the instrument in the surgeon's hand before it is asked for, and that comes from knowing the sequence, not from quick reflexes.
• Write your own case cards for each procedure and refine them after you see it done. These become the study material for the CST examination and for your first weeks of employment.
• Learn instruments by feel and by function, not only by picture — you will identify them by touch under a drape.
• Say the names out loud while practising. Recognising an instrument and naming it under pressure are different skills.
• Connect what you learn here to your clinical rotation deliberately. Review the procedure the night before you scrub it, and the day teaches you ten times as much.

⚠⚠ This is a PSAV clock-hour course — it carries no college credit

• The leading zero in the course number is the signal. Under the Florida Statewide Course Numbering System, a 0000-level number denotes postsecondary adult vocational (PSAV) instruction, which is measured in clock hours rather than semester credit hours. These courses carry zero college credit.
• ⚠ A catalog may display the clock-hour figure under a heading that reads "credit hours." It is not credits. When you see a number like 192 or 375 attached to a 0000-level course, that is hours of instruction — no course is worth 375 semester credits.
• PSAV hours do not transfer as college credit to an associate or bachelor's degree, and they do not satisfy general education requirements.
• What they do produce is a workforce credential — a career certificate that qualifies you to sit a national certification examination and to be hired. For many students that is exactly the right outcome, and it is reached faster and more cheaply than a degree.
• Some institutions offer articulation from a PSAV certificate into a related associate degree, sometimes through an articulated credit agreement or a "gold standard" statewide articulation. ⚠ These are institution-specific and change. If your intention is to continue to a degree later, get the articulation in writing from the receiving institution before you enrol, not after you finish.
• Financial aid rules differ for clock-hour programmes. Eligibility, disbursement, and satisfactory-progress rules are not the same as for credit programmes — ask the financial aid office specifically about clock-hour programmes.
• Attendance is the currency. Clock-hour programmes track attendance directly, and hours missed generally must be made up; this is stricter than a typical credit course.

⚠⚠ Surgical conscience: if you break sterility and nobody saw, you say so

• This is the defining professional value of surgical technology, and it is taught from the first day because everything else rests on it.
• Sterility is absolute, not probabilistic. An item is sterile or it is not; there is no "probably fine." When in doubt, it is contaminated.
• You will contaminate something, and the only question is what you do next. Announcing your own break in technique — when no one else noticed and no one would ever know — is the whole of surgical conscience, and it is the single trait that defines a trustworthy surgical technologist.
• The consequence of staying silent is a surgical site infection in a real person. That is not an abstraction; it is prolonged illness, reoperation, and sometimes death.
• Know the boundaries of the sterile field — table height, gown front from chest to sterile-field level and sleeves from cuff up, and never turn your back on the field.
• Monitor everyone. Watching for other people's breaks in technique is part of the role, and saying so out loud is expected of you, not presumptuous.
• Movement discipline matters — sterile to sterile, non-sterile to non-sterile, face the field, and keep hands above waist and below shoulders.
• Verify every package. Integrity, indicators, expiry, and moisture — a wet package is a contaminated package.
• Speaking up is a clinical skill, and programmes assess it. A student who will not say "that's contaminated" to a surgeon is not yet safe to practise.

⚠⚠ Counts — a retained surgical item is a never event

• A sponge, needle, or instrument left inside a patient is classed as a "never event" — an error considered wholly preventable. The count is how it is prevented, and the scrub role owns it jointly with the circulator.
• Counts happen at defined points: before the procedure, before closure of a cavity, at the start of wound closure, and at skin closure, plus whenever staff change.
• Count audibly and together, with both people seeing each item as it is counted. A count performed silently or alone is not a count.
• Never remove counted items from the room during a procedure.
• A discrepancy stops the process. Recount, search the field and the floor, notify the surgeon, and an X-ray is taken if the item is not found. This is not negotiable and not a judgement call.
• Do not let pressure shorten the count. The end of a long case, an impatient team, and an urgent turnover are exactly the conditions under which retained items happen.
• Account for every needle and every blade fragment. Broken instrument tips count too.
• Document counts accurately — the record is the evidence that it was done.
• Emergencies do not remove the obligation; they change how it is managed, and the policy covers that.

⚠⚠ Certification and accreditation — verify before you enrol

• The recognised credential is the CST — Certified Surgical Technologist, awarded by the National Board of Surgical Technology and Surgical Assisting (NBSTSA).
• ⚠⚠ Eligibility to sit the CST examination generally requires graduation from a programme accredited by CAAHEP (through the ARC/STSA) or ABHES. Confirm a programme's accreditation before enrolling — this is the same trap as CAPTE for physical therapist assistants, and it is unrecoverable after the fact.
• Accredited programmes require a documented minimum number of surgical cases before graduation, commonly cited as 120, distributed across specialties and roles. Keep your case log meticulously and from the first day — reconstructing it later is difficult and sometimes impossible.
• Most employers require certification even where the law does not, and many require it within a set period after hire.
• Certification is maintained by continuing education or re-examination on a defined cycle.
• ⚠ State regulation of surgical technologists varies and has changed in several states. Florida has not historically licensed surgical technologists as a separate licensed profession in the way it licenses nurses or physical therapist assistants, but requirements set by statute, by facility, and by accreditor do change.
• ⚠ Rule 11 applies. Verify current certification, accreditation, and any state requirements directly with NBSTSA, the accreditor, and the Florida Department of Health rather than relying on any course guide, including this one.
• Background screening and drug testing are required for clinical placement, and a criminal record can end a career pathway before it starts — raise any concern with the programme early and privately.

⚠ The physical and psychological demands are real

• You stand still for hours. Long cases mean sustained standing in one position, frequently with arms elevated, and it is more fatiguing than moving work. Supportive footwear and compression stockings are a genuine professional investment.
• You lift. Instrument trays are heavy, and patient positioning and transfers are part of the job — use the equipment and the team.
• Operating rooms are cold, and you will be gowned and gloved for hours without the ability to adjust anything.
• Bathroom and meal breaks are constrained by the case, which surprises students more than anything else. Hydrate and eat before a long list, sensibly.
• Radiation exposure occurs when imaging is used intraoperatively — wear lead, use distance, and monitor with a dosimeter where provided.
• Latex and chemical sensitivities matter here; disclose them to the programme early.
• You will see trauma, and some cases end badly. Paediatric cases and unexpected deaths affect experienced staff, and it is normal to be affected. Know what support the programme and the facility provide, and use it.
• The culture can be blunt under pressure. Sharp instruction during a critical moment is about the case, not about you — but genuine abuse is not acceptable, and there is a route to report it.

STS0120 is 66 clock hours, offered fall, with BSC0070 and HSC1531 as prerequisites and STS0008 as corequisite. ⚠ Clock hours carry no college credit.

It begins the three-course specialties sequence — see this repository's STS0121 and STS0122 guides, and STS0255L for the concurrent clinical rotation where this content is applied.