The course introduces the fundamentals of operating room techniques, emphasizing principles and practices of asepsis and sterilization. Physical and psychosocial aspects of the patient are considered throughout the various procedures in the operating process. Included are the roles and responsibilities of the surgical technologist and other surgical team members; identification and handling of common equipment, instruments, and supplies; students are introduced to and practice the sterile and unsterile rules in the operating room. This is a laboratory course.
Goals, Topics, and Objectives
- Communication Skills and Teamwork
- Physical Environment
- Methods of Disinfection and Sterilization
- Environmental Disinfection of the Operating Room
- Hemostasis, Suture, and Wound Healing
- Biopsychosocial Needs of the Patient
- Patient Transport and Surgical Positioning
- Urinary Catheterization
- Surgical Counts
- Basic Instrumentation
- Aseptic Technique
- Environmental Hazards
- Demonstrate the roles of surgical team members, noting the moral, professional, and legal responsibility of each.
- Identify the surgical patient’s needs before, during, and after surgery.
- Assess the patient's vital signs, before, during, and after surgery.
- Demonstrate the principles and practices of surgical asepsis.
- Identify sutures and suturing techniques that are commonly used in surgical procedures.
- Identify basic surgical instruments and instrument categories, common supplies, and equipment and their uses.
- Demonstrate basic hand hygiene.
- Demonstrate scrubbing, gowning, and gloving for surgical procedures.
- Demonstrate basic surgical prepping, positioning, and draping.
- Demonstrate proper urinary catheterization techniques.
- Modify surgical prepping, positioning, and draping based on factors including anesthesia, surgeon’s preference, patient considerations, and safety.
- Demonstrate safety throughout the patient surgical experience.
- Demonstrate preparation for common forms of sterilization used for surgical instruments and supplies.
- Describe common decontamination processes.
- Describe objectives and priorities in emergency situations.
- Demonstrate the principles of safe transport of the patient to the OR, including transfer on and off the OR table.
Assessment and Requirements
Assessment of academic achievement will include quizzes and competencies.
Students must pass this course with a “C” or better grade to remain in the SRG Program.
Students must follow all classroom/ clinical policies described in the most current SRG Student Handbook.
Students are required to wear the navy blue HFC program scrubs during all lab classes.
Textbook(s) as determined by program faculty.