FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 16, 2008
Contact Ben Chambers, (770) 537-5756

MOCK SURGERIES GIVE REAL EXPERIENCE

West Central Technical College surgical Technology student Kristina Wilson prepares to hand Surgical Technology program director Richard Bailey an instrument during a mock surgery January 15. Justin Bardeman was assisting, also. The surgical technology students assist with the simulations in the week just before beginning clinical rotations.

Surgical technology students assist during a mock surgery January 15 at West Central Technical College’s Murphy Campus. The operating room, a part of the allied health laboratory, includes all the proper lighting, instruments and equipment and could be used for actual surgery in the event of a disaster that required additional health facilities.

A surgical technologist is the surgeon’s right arm. Every move the doctor makes is anticipated, and every instrument is ready before it is needed.

Getting that feel for the actual flow of the operating room is one of the challenges of training new surgical techs.

West Central Technical College’s Surgical Technology Program readies students for clinical rotations by holding mock surgeries – simulating every aspect of the operating room to put students at ease when they see the real thing for the first time.

“Mock surgeries show students exactly what will be expected of them at their clinical sites and in the field as surgical technologists,” program director Richard Bailey said. For the simulations, Bailey is the doctor performing the surgeries, and his students are his surgical technologists.

“We started doing the simulations because we found when our students went to the clinical sites for the first time they were either scared to death working with an actual patient, or they were apprehensive about what would be required of them by the surgeon,” Bailey said. “These mock surgeries are held two weeks into the second quarter of the program, before students go to clinical rotations, and they go a long way toward making the students comfortable.”

As he performs the surgery on a specially prepared simulator, Bailey guides his students through the process of assisting – from the way to hand over instruments to the correct suture to have waiting.

An actual patient is lying on the operating table under the simulator. A “nurse” sits at the patient’s head. Instruments are precisely arrayed on the table. Everything from lighting to scrubs to equipment is exactly like an actual hospital.

“Today, we’re doing a hernia repair,” Bailey said. “We have done breast biopsies and appendectomies, also.”

“Our academic programs are driven by what employers in our area demand,” Vice President of Academic Affairs Pat Hannon said. “If hospitals are telling us they need surgical technologists prepared with a certain set of skills, that’s what we teach in our curriculum.”

Hannon said the mock surgeries are a good example of being sensitive to the needs of students, as well.

“Richard knew this would help the students to transition from the classroom to the real world, so we implemented it,” Hannon said. “We always want to do everything we can to give our students the skills they need to be successful.”

The class of 2008 will be the six to graduate from West Central’s one-year surgical technology diploma program. Twelve students are selected for admission each year through the competitive selection process used in the College’s health services programs.

“We are very proud of the work Richard is doing to help these students realize their dreams,” President Dr. Skip Sullivan said. “One of our core values as a College is student centeredness. Richard’s commitment to focusing on what students need to be successful is a great example of this.”

Bailey said most graduates go right to work as surgical technologists. Some are hired first in central sterile processing and are moved to the operating room later.

“We greatly appreciate our clinical sites at Tanner Medical Center, Piedmont Newnan Hospital, and WellStar Douglas Hospital for cooperating with us to provide these students with the hands-on training our program requires,” Bailey said.

West Central Technical College, with campuses in Carroll, Coweta, Douglas and Haralson counties, offers over 90 associate degree, diploma and technical certificate programs of study. A unit of the Technical College System of Georgia, West Central is the sixth fastest-growing of 33 technical colleges in the state and last year served over 10,000 students including credit enrollment, adult education, ESL classes, continuing education and corporate training.

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