

J’Shaun Bedoni is one student who is enhancing her career while serving as a Surgical Technologist at Four Corners Ambulatory Surgery Center, LLC. Offering the program online provides an opportunity for students to advance their career while working in the field. Students in the First Assistant program can continue working while earning the Surgical Assisting certificate. Some Surgical First Assistants even own their own business contracting directly with surgeons. There are a variety of employment options for Surgical First Assistants, including hospital operating and delivery rooms, physicians' offices, and outpatient or ambulatory surgery centers. Students are required to assist in 140 surgical procedures, complete the degree requirements and finish the online didactics with hands-on lab training, at approved healthcare facilities near the students’ home. The natural progression in the career field is as a Surgical First Assistant, which can be completed online within one year. Since 2007, San Juan College has provided an accredited Surgical Technologist program, which takes an average of two years to complete, including prerequisite courses.

The RNFA can play a vital role in the preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative phases of the surgical process. The first assistant should be a trained individual who is able to participate in and actively assist the surgeon in completing the operation safely and expeditiously by helping to provide exposure, maintain hemostasis, and serve other technical functions.” The Registered Nurse First Assistant is a highly trained perioperative registered nurse (RN) or advanced practice registered nurse (APRN) with the expertise to be the first assistant to the surgeon during procedures. “Prior to entering the profession, leadership skills and experience as a surgical tech or other operating room professional, is required. “A surgical First Assistant is not considered to be an entry level position,” explains Powell. Under direct and indirect supervision of the surgeon, surgical first assistants provide the surgeon with hands-on support with vital tasks from pre-operative to post-operative procedures, including hemostasis, closure, and other intraoperative technical functions. Overall, the resources of hospitals are diminishing but the need for quality patient care will continue to grow.” “The importance of utilizing qualified surgical assistants is increasing as communities confront a decrease in the number of surgeons. “The need for Surgical First Assistants continues to grow,” says Lydell Powell, Surgical First Assistant instructor and program coordinator. San Juan College answered the demand by creating the new online program earlier this year, allowing students from across the nation to earn their credential as a CSFA (Certified Surgical First Assistant). The Surgical First Assistant program educates and trains students to safely and expeditiously assist in surgical operations. San Juan College has the only online Surgical First Assistant program located in the Southwestern part of the United States. Meridian Institute of Surgical Assisting’s Surgical First Assisting program fulfills this requirement by being dual accredited.The new online Surgical First Assistant program at San Juan College gives operating room healthcare professionals the opportunity to enhance their career and take their profession to the next level. The below states require graduation from an accredited program to apply for licensure. However, some courses include simulated laboratory experiences on campus. Most of the courses are delivered online. Some states require Surgical First Assistants to be licensed. The Surgical Technology First Assistant certificate encompasses the basic elements of first assisting.


This does not preclude any student from Texas from enrolling in our program and being eligible for the national certification exam. Meridian Institute of Surgical Assisting is not regulated in Texas under Chapter 132 of the Texas Education Code. We anticipate demand for our program from Certified Surgical Technologists across. NC-SARA is a voluntary, regional approach to state oversight of postsecondary distance education. currently only two accredited programs with an online option in the US. Meridian Institute of Surgical Assisting has been approved by Tennessee to participate in the National Council for State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements. Meridian Institute of Surgical Assisting is institutionally accredited by the Accrediting Bureau of Health Education School (ABHES), a national accrediting agency recognized by the United States Department of Education.
