Surgical Technician History
Learn About Surgical Technicians
The surgical technician history began during the World War I, on the battlefields. However, it was only in World War II when the surgical technician history came about as the army used corpsmen to assist and work under the supervision of surgeons on combat ships. Since during this time, nurses were not allowed to enter combat ships, a new and in-demand profession was born, which the army called "ORTs" operating room technicians, and thus the surgical technician history started.
The surgical technician history continued during the Korean War, wherein the army experienced shortages of nurses to handle and assist the operating rooms. Because of this, surgeons and supervisors in the operating rooms began to recruit ex-corpsmen and asked them to work in civilian surgery. During these times, the operating room technicians functioned as the circulator, while registered nurses performed the scrub duties. It was only until 1965 that the roles of the two were reversed and the surgical technician history truly began.
In 1967, the surgical technician history continued when the Association of Operating Room Nurses (AORN) developed and published a book entitled, "Teaching the Operating Room Technician". The following year, the AORN created the Association of Operation Room Technicians, which was then divided into two committees – the Joint Committee on Education and the Liaison Council on Certification for the Surgical Technologist (LCC-ST). The first certification in surgical technician history was recorded in 1970, which gave passers a new designation: Certified Operating Room Technician.
The year 1973 was an important part of the surgical technician history because the Association of Operation Room Technicians became an independent body and changed the organization's name into AST (Association of Surgical Technologists) as well as the title of OR techs into what it is known today, Surgical Technologist. Today, the surgical technician history continues to progress as new technologies and career opportunities arise because of the demand of surgical techs.
