Another Surgery Addict

This email comes from Jackie. Jackie craves surgery as much as I do.

I'm a 21 year-old pre-Med student from Phoenix, AZ. I'll be graduating in May, and due to economic and personal concerns, I will not be able to pursue my medical education at a 4-year Medical School.

I ran across your blog while looking for alternative, and I found that we are very much alike - I am also addicted to surgery, using my internship with a Kidney Transplant surgeon as an opportunity to get into the OR at every turn. I believe that a career as a 1st Assist is something that I would greatly enjoy!

However, I have had difficulty pinpointing the best way to go about this. I have found that the best way to go would be to become a CST. However, what is the quickest route to 1st Assist from there? Do I need to take more courses, or simply amass enough cases to qualify? Is it necessary to become certified as an assist, or can I be a CST and, with experience, become recognized as an assist without additional certification?

I am by no means interested in the "easiest" way, I would just like to get back into the OR as soon as possible after school, as well as possibly begin working, so that I can, in the future, accomplish my goal of medical school.

Any tips? I find your writing and blog inspiring, and I am looking forward to your insight!

- Jackie

Jackie,
First let me say that while I respect your concerns, it's unfortunate that you will be unable to pursue med school at this time. If I knew then what I know now, as the saying goes, I most certainly would have pursued med school and a surgical (trauma?) residency while I was in my youth. It seems as time goes by and our lives becomes increasingly full of responsibilities, it becomes harder to devote such an enormous amount of time and money to such an endeavor. If it is truly what you want though, you will find a way.
In the meantime..... the quickest way back into surgery would certainly be as a surgical technologist. You can complete a certificate program in about 9 months, sit for your certification upon graduation, and off you go scrubbing as a certified tech. In fact, the clinical portion of your school will be spent scrubbed in. From there it is simply a matter of taking a first assist course. Most programs consist of didactic, usually offered by distance, a 6 day (min) hands on skills workshop, completion of a suture and tying course, and completion of 350 supervised clinical cases in a variety of specialties. There are several schools out there but I would say the average time of completion is 18-24 months. While there is nothing that says you must become certified as an assist, I would highly recommend it. Legislation is always changing and soon it may be required. Best to sit for the test while it is fresh rather than waiting and having it forced upon you several years later.
I'm not sure what your long term goals are but if you enjoy the whole gamut of patient contact, from clinic to surgery to post op, why not look into P. A. school? If you are graduating pre-med, I believe you would have the pre-reqs out of the way. The tuition is much less than med school and there are (were anyway) certificate, Bachelor's and Masters PA programs. A little more time to dedicate (2 years?) but if you land the right job, you will be more valuable to your surgeon, eligible for Medicare reimbursement ( as minute as it may be) , and hopefully still get to go to the Operating Room two or three days a week.
RNFA is another option. You are probably looking at four years, if I remember correctly- two year BSN, 2000 hrs of circulating (for CNOR eligibility) , and an RNFA program. If I don't have those facts straight, I apologize. I do remember being faced with the same dilemmas when I decided that assisting was the way for me and, next to med school, I remember RNFA was the longest route. If you decide on RN, I would also recommend continuing on to APN for reimbursement and advanced knowledge though I don't have a clue what attaining those titles entail.
I will say this about what I do. For me, it is the best job in the world. I do all of the fun stuff and don't have to deal with any of the not-so-fun stuff. That is, clinic, pre and post-op, phone calls from the floor, etc. All I do is OR all the time.
What I find missing from what I do? Knowledge. I crave more medical knowledge. The pathophysiology of trauma, diagnosis, in depth pharmacology, anaesthesia, what it feels like to put in a chest tube. OK, I'll never know the last one. I am self educating myself as best I can from books but it's certainly no substitute for an organized formal education. Heck, I can't even get lab values memorized!
Well Jackie, I hope that gives you some answers or at least a general idea of what to expect. If you do choose surg tech, be sure to go to a CAAHEP accredited program or you will run into roadblocks for certification. Generally, you must be a certified ST in order to be approved for hospital privileges which you will need in order to be able to assist.
Thank you for enjoying IntraopOrate and feel free to ask any other questions.
Best of luck to you,

MMT