Ohio State partners with Columbus State to train surgical technologists amid national shortage

Christy Han
Wed, 27 Mar 2024 03:43:44 +0000
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Ohio State recently partnered with the Columbus State Surgical Technology Program to increase enrollment and aid in national shortage of surgical technologists. Credit: Courtesy of the Wexner Medical Center

Ohio State and Columbus State are proof that teamwork does make the dream work.?

The schools recently partnered to increase enrollment in the Columbus State Surgical Technology Program to aid in the national shortage of surgical technologists. Curriculum and accreditation will be provided by Columbus State, while Ohio State will offer instructional support and clinical training space, according to a Wexner Medical Center press release. Students enrolled in the program will complete their training in the Ohio State Jameson Crane Sports Medicine Institute Surgical Skills Lab and will do clinical rotations at all Ohio State facilities, according to Anya Nazarova, program coordinator of surgical technology and sterile processing programs at Columbus State.?

Nazarova said surgical technologists serve as “vital members of the operating room team.”?

“Surgical technologists are usually the right hand of a surgeon because they have to know as much as a surgeon does. They have to take care of sterility, learn all the different procedures and be able to anticipate all surgeons need,” Nazarova said.?

According to Nazorava, 35 students are currently enrolled in a trial cohort for the program. Prior to partnering with Ohio State, 24 students were enrolled.?

According to a Wexner Medical Center press release, surgical technologists are “vital” in the operating room, and at Ohio State, they support “every operating room” and work in “every area of surgery.”?

“The national shortage of surgical techs has left surgeons and health systems, in general, realizing how hard it is to run an operating room without these critical team members,” the press release states.?

The program offers students a five-semester associate of applied science degree and classes such as human anatomy, physiology and microbiology. Students will also take the national certification exam as part of the program, Nazarova said.

Nazarova said with growing surgical technology, more advanced surgical procedures are taking place, increasing the need for more surgical technologists.?

Ohio State has made “strategic capital investments in a variety of different buildings related to the inpatient hospital tower,” according to Dennis Delisle, executive director of University Hospital, Brain and Spine Hospital and Richard M. Ross Heart Hospital.

“With that comes the opportunity for new staff, new teams — and we have a current gap today with what we budget for staffing with the surgical techs and what we actually have,” Delisle said.?

?There will be 8,600 openings for surgical assistants and technologists each year over the next decade, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.?

Delisle said the benefit of this collaboration includes bringing the broader community together and building traction and tension to pull people towards a healthcare career.

?“The intention is that as people go through these programs, that also becomes a pipeline for us to hire them into the workforce,” Delisle said.

?Delisle said both Ohio State and Columbus State are trying to solve the same interrelated problem that is important to the Columbus area and Central Ohio as a whole.?

“Part of what we are trying to do across the health care workforce is to find creative ways in which we can give people opportunities to advance their career and get educations and that means different for different people,” Delisle said.?