Surgical technicians’ backstage work recognized

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Omari Bernard
  • JBER Public Affairs
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska --  Imagine opening night: the tickets are sold and the seats are filled. Curtains open and the actors take their cue to take to the stage. The play begins and ends, and the crowd en masse rises in a standing ovation.

A spotlight shines on the center stage as the actor basks in the applause. The play was a success, only it wasn't a play on stage, but surgery in an operating room.

The troupe is made up of a doctor, nurse, anesthesiologist, and a surgical technician.
The culmination of their efforts is a success nonetheless - a successful operation that is played out for patients every day.

Air Force surgical technicians are like the stage crew of a theatrical production: they work behind the scenes, and are not always recognized for the amount of work they do.
They are the unsung heroes of the operating room who set the stage for the doctor and patient.

Sept. 8 through 24 is National Surgical Technologist Week. For a few days, the spotlight shines on the stage crew.

"Surgical technicians are the ones standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the doctors during surgeries and are responsible for ensuring the surgeons have what they need, when they need it," said Senior Master Sgt. Steven Schnortz, a surgical technician with the 673d Medical Support Squadron at the JBER hospital.

Technicians scan over papers, checking and verifying to make sure each and every instrument is in place, decontaminated, and in full working condition.

Air Force surgical technicians, much like their civilian counterparts, assist surgeons with a vast array of surgeries such as cesarean sections, orthopedic and general procedures, traumatic injuries, and many other types of medical treatment in the operating rooms.

They are on call to respond to emergency surgeries, often sacrificing weekends and family time in order to accomplish the mission. While on call, surgical technicians have less than 30 minutes to be at their station fully prepared and ready to go.

"Many of our technicians have had significant deployment experience in Iraq and Afghanistan, both on large bases and forward operating bases. Many have quite interesting stories," Schnortz said.

Technicians like Senior Airman Candace Smith, a surgical technician with the 673d Medical Support Squadron here, play key positions while deployed.

Smith described instances where she consoled injured troops in the operating room while stationed in Afghanistan.

"As they passed through, I would tell them it would be ok," Smith explained. "You never know what is going to happen. No case is ever the same. You need to be able to adjust. On a scale of difficulty from one to 10, this job is a hundred. You become very humble after coming back from a deployment. You see what is really going on over there. There is always something new, something different, and something exciting, I love it."

"Because of the great responsibility, autonomy and the reliance that surgeons and patients have on surgical technicians to do their jobs perfectly each time, surgical technicians must incorporate the Air Force core values into every aspect of their jobs.
"If they don't, patients may be placed at risk or even injured," Schnortz said.

In addition to this important job and unlike their civilian counterparts, Air Force surgical technicians here work in specialty clinics assisting otorhinolaryngology, urology and orthopedic surgeons.

They also perform sterile processing and distribution - in which they clean, disinfect and sterilize instruments for not only the operating room but for the whole hospital and every Veterans Affairs hospital clinic on the Kenai peninsula.

"We clean and sterilize all instruments that are used on our patients," said Senior Airman Ashley Timmons, a surgical technician with the 673d MDSS here.

The process starts with the technician in the operating room bringing the instruments back to the decontamination room.

There, a technician is assigned to decontamination where they will follow these steps: hand wash, place in an ultrasonic washing machine, and then the washer/decontaminator. All this is while still in full medical scrub gear. Only after it comes out of the washer/decontaminator is it safe to touch with bare hands.

"We have to treat every patient as if they have something," she explained. "Afterwards the tools are put on the shelves and then sets are put together. Every instrument has a specific job and it is our job to make sure it is performing correctly, it is not a quick process."

"In the military, surgical technicians are extremely important because they perform 99 percent of the scrubbing duties we have," said Air Force Lt. Col. Richard Terracciano,
the operating room flight commander with the 673d MDSS. "They perform all of the surgical processing and distribution functions here."

Surgical technicians are attached to surgeons like shadows; they operate as a team and predict the surgeon's needs for the operation.

"What makes our surgical technician Airmen stand out is their training," Terracciano said.

With countless hours dedicated to training they gain the confidence to handle anything. They are training for a readiness billet, even though this is our normal job every day, said Terracciano.

This translates into a readiness mission down in Afghanistan or humanitarian missions around the globe. They get a lot of responsibility for being so young. The training these [technicians] get is highly specialized, technical, and very demanding. Compared to their civilian counterparts who have to do just one job, they do it all.

"I like my surgical technicians," Terracciano said. "They are trained to accommodate the unexpected. The educated individual is the best weapon the Air Force has."