STS1302C – Introduction to Surgical Technology is the entry course in a surgical technology program, orienting students to the operating room and the surgical technologist's role in it. The C suffix reflects an integrated laboratory in which skills are demonstrated rather than described. Miami Dade College carries the lecture version at 2 credits.
The surgical technologist — the "scrub" — sets up the sterile field, passes instruments, anticipates the surgeon's needs, and maintains sterility throughout a procedure. It is a role with unusual characteristics: extremely high standards for a narrow set of behaviors, substantial physical demand, minimal patient interaction once the patient is asleep, and an environment where a lapse in technique has direct consequences for infection risk.
Content covers the surgical team and the roles of surgeon, assistant, anesthesia provider, circulator, and scrub; the physical environment of the surgical suite — traffic patterns, restricted areas, air handling, and layout; asepsis and sterile technique — the principles of the sterile field and the behaviors that maintain it; surgical hand antisepsis, gowning, and gloving, including closed gloving and assisting others; sterile field setup — draping, back table, and Mayo stand organization; instrumentation — classification, names, handling, and passing; supplies and equipment — sutures, sponges, drains, and powered instruments; sterilization and disinfection — methods, monitoring, and central sterile processing; counts — sponge, sharp, and instrument counting procedures and what happens when a count is incorrect; patient positioning and skin preparation; specimen handling; surgical safety — time-out procedures, fire risk, and electrosurgical safety; medical terminology; and legal, ethical, and professional responsibilities.
Offered at approximately 12 Florida institutions with surgical technology programs.
Florida's large hospital systems and its high volume of ambulatory surgery centers — driven in part by the state's older population and elective orthopedic and ophthalmic volume — sustain steady demand. Ambulatory surgery centers often offer more predictable hours than hospitals, which matters given the call requirements discussed below.
Most standards in health care involve judgment. Sterile technique does not: a sterile field is either maintained or it is not, contamination is not partial, and the correct response to breaking sterility is to say so immediately and correct it. Students who are used to nuance find this unfamiliar, and students who are tempted to hide a mistake are dangerous in this role. The professional norm — announce contamination without hesitation, every time, regardless of who caused it — is taught explicitly because surgical site infections are the consequence of the alternative.
The Certified Surgical Technologist (CST) credential, awarded by the NBSTSA, is the credential Florida employers ask for, and eligibility generally requires graduation from a CAAHEP- or ABHES-accredited program. Confirm the program's accreditation before enrolling — this determines examination eligibility, and it is not something that can be fixed afterward. Florida does not license surgical technologists, so the national certification carries the full weight.
Retained surgical items are a "never event," and the counting procedure — sponges, sharps, and instruments, counted at defined points and reconciled before closure — is the control that prevents them. An incorrect count triggers a defined response including search and radiograph, and it is not resolved by assumption. Students should understand that this is one of the clearest places where their attention directly protects a patient.
Worth stating plainly, because students should decide early. The job involves standing for long periods, often several hours without a break, in a cold room, wearing a gown and mask, holding retractors, with limited opportunity to step away. Many positions require call — nights, weekends, and holidays — and trauma cases arrive unpredictably. Surgeons under pressure can be abrupt. Against that: the work is genuinely interesting, the entry credential is short, and technologists who develop specialty expertise are valued and reasonably compensated. Students who find the lab work absorbing usually do well; those who find the standing and the repetition tedious should take that seriously now.
Hundreds of instruments, many looking similar, each with a name and a use — and in the operating room the correct one must reach the surgeon's hand without being asked twice. Spaced repetition with flash cards from week one is the method that works; cramming does not, because the recall has to be instant rather than achievable.
Before entering a clinical site a student needs a Level 2 background screening under Chapter 435, F.S., drug screening, immunizations, a physical examination, healthcare-provider CPR certification, and liability insurance. These take weeks. Programs are cohort-based, sequential, and limited-access, so mid-program transfer is rarely practical.
The course appears as STS1302 and STS1302C; Miami Dade College carries the lecture version at 2 credits, and the C variant adds an integrated laboratory, so contact hours exceed what a 2-credit lecture would suggest. SCNS equivalency applies to the same number at the same level, never across numbers — verify locally.
Generated August 31, 2026 · Updated August 31, 2026