Surgical Assistant Duties & Responsibilities
The role and function of a Surgical Assistant includes the following duties and responsibilities:
- Assisting with patient resuscitation during cardiac arrests or other life-threatening events.
- Covering patients with surgical drapes to ensure and maintain a sterile operating field, removing patients' body hair, and disinfecting the incision site.
- Determining the availability and inspecting sterile and non-sterile surgical equipment, tools, and supplies.
- Maintaining an unobstructed operating field with surgical retractors, sponges, and suctioning and irrigating equipment.
- Monitoring patients' positions, vital signs, and volume and color of blood during operations.
- Assisting the surgical team with gowning or gloving and passing instruments or supplies to the Surgeon.
- Assisting with the application of dressings, casts, splints, braces, and other devices.
- Adjusting and maintaining the operating room temperature, humidity, and lighting according to the Surgeon's specifications.
- Applying sutures, staples, clips, and drainage systems and clamping, or cauterizing blood vessels to control bleeding.
- Assisting with the positioning of patients' bodies to protect against nerve damage or circulation impairment and assessing the patients' body conditions after surgery.
Note that this is not an exhaustive list of Surgical Assistant duties and responsibilities. Job functions for specific Surgical Assistant roles may vary, depending on the industry and type of employer.
