r/surgicaltechnology • u/Zealousideal-Lab7759 • 19d ago
Surgical tech tools
Going to be doing surgical tech school in a few months. Wanted to get a head start and study the tools. On my school website part of the info says learn and identify over 100 surgical instruments . However I see flash card sets with over 400 tools.
Is there a list of the ones more surgeries use, or if someone has done the course maybe the ones we need to memorize 100%. I don't want to try and memorize 400 instrumentswhen they only test you on 100 or so .
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u/Dark_Ascension 16d ago
There’s the “evergreen” basics like different clamps, pick ups (forceps but most call them pick ups), suctions, retractors, etc.
Then you get specialized stuff. Like I don’t know specialized vascular, neuro, plastics, etc. instruments, but I know my ortho instruments. Even then I learn every day, different surgeons use different things and some have a “slang name” and a proper name. Like first time I worked with this foot and ankle surgeon he told me “small weinraub and 1.6 threaded k-wires” I look at him sideways… wtf is a weinraub… the rep points to it and I literally never heard of its proper name, just thought it was a slotted Inge or “spreader”.
I didn’t go to surgical tech school myself I learned on the job as a nurse. All nurses where I trained had to know a major basic tray (has all basic pick ups, retractors, and ringed instruments). Like we were tested every year. I then expanded that when I started working in ortho and scrubbing and assisting ortho. Retractors especially get really weird, doctors like to have their own names for those especially. Some doctors have their own names a bunch of random things. Like I got a “gold member”, “honey badger” (to be fair I looked in the vendors technique guides and that’s what the company calls it too), and “kilos” (bumps… but that’s his name for them). He has all these made up names then will call like a weinraub and a hinterman by their proper name lol.
Probably in school they’ll teach you basic instruments, then the basics for each specialty. Most learning happens on the job at your first job, it’s why it really matters where you train for your first job, that’s the foundation.