T.C. Williams High School students toured an operating room at Inova Alexandria Hospital on Friday, March 21, as part of the Claude Moore Surgical Tech Scholars program. Photo Contributed
If you’ve ever played that classic board game, “The Game of Life,” you’re familiar with the game’s first important life choice: College Path or Career Path. No doubt, a similar choice is on the minds of upcoming seniors at Alexandria’s T.C. Williams High School as they finalize their choices for next year’s classes. For those choosing to pursue the career path first, they have a new course option called the Claude Moore Surgical Tech Scholars Program.
Created as a joint venture between Alexandria City Public Schools, Inova Alexandria Hospital and the Claude Moore Charitable Foundation, the Surgical Tech program resulted from a very real need to fill healthcare jobs in this specialty right now, while also preparing a pool of qualified applicants to meet future demand. Data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics show that employment for surgical technologists will likely increase 30 percent by 2022, which they note, is much faster than average for all occupations. Employment researchers attribute this increase to the growing medical and surgical needs of an aging population coupled with enhanced surgical techniques.
So what does a surgical technologist do? As an integral part of the operating room (OR) team, the surgical technologist prepares the operating room, arranges equipment and instruments, ensures that the OR environment remains sterile and assists doctors and nurses throughout the surgery, including passing instruments to the surgeon or nurses as necessary. It is a demanding yet highly rewarding job with opportunity for advancement.
The Claude Moore Surgical Tech program at T.C. Williams prepares students for jobs in this field with a two-year course of study, starting in a student’s senior year. With grant money from Inova and Claude Moore, ACPS designed the curriculum and outfitted several classrooms and labs with the equipment and instruments used by surgical technologists. The first year involves intensive academic coursework taught by the program’s three registered nurses. During the second year, students log required clinical hours at Inova Alexandria Hospital under the direction of our Department of Perioperative Services.
Upon completion of the two-year program, students will have the education and clinical rotation hours needed for certification as a surgical technologist. They will have also gained a network of professional connections among Inova Alexandria Hospital’s OR team. Our Human Resources staff will encourage these graduates to apply for open surgical technologist positions within the hospital or elsewhere in Inova Health System.
As our inaugural class of Claude Moore Surgical Tech Scholars concludes their first year of academic study this June, we are proud to be part of the solution for educating students to fill the jobs we know will be there when they graduate. And we hope this course inspires and excites them to pursue a career in healthcare. Given the success of similar Claude Moore health education programs throughout Northern Virginia, I’m certain the Surgical Tech program will be a winning solution for all involved.
Learn more about the Claude Moore Surgical Tech Program at inova.org, search “surgical tech.”