To be eligible to apply for admission into the Surgical Technology program, applicants must:

• Be admitted to Great Falls College and have a complete admissions file (if you are coming from another college besides Great Falls College, please send official transcripts).
• Be in good academic standing.
• All prerequisites must have been completed with a “C-“or better.
• Anatomy and physiology and microbiology classes must have been completed within the last 5 years.

The deadline for applications to the Surgical Technology program is October 27, 2023. Completed applications may be hand-delivered, emailed or mailed to the Health Science Program Assistant at the college. If mailed in, applications must be postmarked by October 27, 2023, or they will be placed at the back of the application review and will only be reviewed if there are spots left unfilled.

Mailing Address

Surgical Technology Program Admissions Committee
Great Falls College MSU
2100 16th Ave. South
Great Falls, MT 59405

When applying for admission into the Surgical Technology program:

Please note that any documents submitted to the college for application to the Surgical Technology program become part of the student program file and will not be returned to the student.

Applicants should keep copies of all documents for their own records. Please only submit copies of the original documents.

Please send all application items as a completed packet. Items sent separately and at random are easily lost or misfiled. We are not responsible for any late, lost or misfiled information.

It is the applicant’s responsibility to ensure that all requirements are met by the established deadline. Deadlines, guidelines and policies apply equally to all students; thus, there can be no exceptions.

Any late or incomplete applications will not be considered in the application process. Do not send any portion separately; only applicants meeting all requirements will be further evaluated by the selection committee.

Submission of false material in this application packet will be grounds for non-admission or, if discovered after admission, grounds for expulsion.

Great Falls College’s Surgical Technology program does not maintain a waiting list. Applicants must reapply each year.

Please only send required documentation as other supplemental items will be discarded.

Current students may apply in the semester in which they are finishing their prerequisites and may be considered for conditional acceptance if space is available. Final determination will be made after completion of grades at the end of the semester.

Surgical Technology Program Application

DEGREE & CERTIFICATION

Students will graduate with an associate of applied science degree upon completion from this program.

Graduates of an accredited program are eligible to sit for the national certifying exam administered by the National Board of Surgical Technology and Surgical Assisting (NBSTSA).  This exam will be scheduled by Great Falls College the day before graduation.

Once you become certified, you are required to maintain the certification by retesting or obtaining 30 continuing education units every two years.  Refer to the Association of Surgical Technologists (AST) for more details.

ACCREDITATION

Great Falls College Surgical Technology Program is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP) upon the recommendation of the Accreditation Review Council on Education in Surgical Technology and Surgical Assisting (ARC/STSA).

Initial accreditation: 10/19/2001

Continuing accreditation site visit: 2025

ACCREDITATING BODIES

For detailed information on our accrediting and supporting bodies please visit/contact the sites below:

www.caahep.org

25400 U.S. Highway 19 North, Suite 158
Clearwater, FL 33763
Phone: 727-210-2350
Fax: 727-210-2354

www.arcstsa.org

6 West Dry Creek Circle, Suite #110
Littleton, CO 80120
Phone: 303-694-9262

www.ast.org

6 West Dry Creek Circle, Suite 200
Littleton, CO 80120-8031
Phone: 800-637-7433
Fax: 303-694-9169

www.nbstsa.org

3 West Dry Creek Circle
Littleton, CO 80120
Phone: 800-707-0057

Defined by ARC/STA – distance education is a formal educational process in which the majority of instruction occurs when student and instructor are not in the same place. Distance education may employ correspondence study, audio, video or computer technologies.

The distance education piece offered by Great Falls College is not an online surgical technology program. Students must attend classes in the Great Falls, Bozeman or Billings area. Through the distance education piece of this program, students are required to uphold the same rigor and time commitment of those located students who are at the Great Falls College campus in Great Falls.
Lecture classes will be taught through WebEx from the Great Falls campus and students must attend classes at one of the designated class rooms to participate. Lab classes will be taught by an instructor at your location in a designated lab space. Clinical and internship spots will be assigned to you by your lab instructor and may require you to travel out of your designated area to fulfill your minimal requirement of 120 surgical cases.

Participating Colleges:
Gallatin College MSU – Bozeman, MT
City College-MSU Billings – Billings, MT

Minimum Expectations & Goal/Outcomes

To prepare entry-level Surgical Technologists who are competent in the cognitive (knowledge), psychomotor (skills) and affective (behavior) learning domains to enter the profession.

The Surgical Technology Program provided by Great Falls College is a student-centered program responsive to the needs of the community, state and nation. The program objective is to provide a quality education through lecture, laboratory and preceptor-model clinical experience to produce competent entry-level graduates that will be competent in the cognitive (knowledge), psychomotor (skills) and affective (behavior) learning domains who will perform their duties ethically and professionally within the guidelines of the profession.

The Surgical Technology Program will meet or exceed Accreditation Review Council on Education in Surgical Technology and Surgical Assisting (ARC-STSA) benchmark standards on student retention, CST exam results, graduate job placement, employer satisfaction and graduate satisfaction.

 Students who complete the program will be prepared to:

1. Work effectively and efficiently while providing safe and excellent patient care. (knowledge and behavior)
2. Demonstrate accountability and ethical decision­ making by engaging in legal, ethical and safe conduct within the recognized scope of practice. (behavior)
3. Properly apply all principles of sterile techniques in regard to the surgical field, instruments, supplies and equipment. While also monitoring for proper working conditions, cleaning, decontaminating, and properly preparing for sterilization. (knowledge and skills)
4. Demonstrate accuracy and integrity while applying professional standards concerning counts, medication and specimens. (knowledge and behavior)
5. Demonstrate competency in maintaining composure in the surgical setting and stressful situations, exhibiting professional conduct, effective communication and fostering respectful relationships with all teams of the healthcare system. (skills and behavior)
6. Demonstrate the necessary didactic and clinical skills needed to pass the certification exam and enter into the job arena as a competent, entry-level surgical technologist. (knowledge and skills)

SURGICAL TECHNOLOGY OUTCOMES

The following is our 10-year trend on retention and certification exams from the National Board of Surgical Technology and Surgical Assisting (NBSTSA) for graduates taking the exam the first time:

Surgical Technology Program Technical Standards

The Surgical Technology Program has technical standards which are the skills and abilities required for competency evaluation. All must be demonstrated to successfully progress and pass the program.

If you have questions or concerns about your ability to meet the technical standards with or without accommodations, or if you would like to arrange reasonable accommodations, you should contact Disability Services. Applicants who disclose a disability are considered for admission if they are otherwise qualified so long as such accommodation does not significantly alter the essential requirements of the curriculum and the educational program, or significantly affect the safety of patient care or others.

To successfully complete the Surgical Technology program, students must demonstrate their competency in carrying out the tasks necessary for safe and effective practice in the field including:

Observation/Sensory-Motor

• Accurately identify and assess heart, breath, abdominal, and other sounds of the human body
• Accurately assess normal and abnormal color changes in the skin and observe pupil changes
• Accurately differentiate colors and recognize patient odors
• Detect and respond appropriately to activation/warning signals on equipment (including auditory and visual signals)
• Detect significant environmental odors
• Distinguish fine print on various medication labels
• Observe and assess conditions of a patient accurately, at a distance and close at hand, and observe non- verbal communication when performing nursing assessments and interventions or when medications are administered
• Observe and participate in all demonstrations and experiments in the basic sciences including computer assisted instruction
• Observe digital or waveform readings
• Perceive signs of disease and/or infection as manifested through physical examination including visual images of the body surfaces, palpable changes in various organs and tissues, and auditory information (patient voice, heart sounds, bowel and lung sounds)
• Read gradients/calibrations on a syringe
• Accurately hear and interpret surgeons’ and team members’ muffled communication while wearing face masks without reading lips

Communication

• Communicate and read accurately and effectively in English with other students, faculty, staff, patients, families and other professionals in a culturally sensitive manner
• Communicate effectively in classroom presentations, seminars, simulation, practicum sites, practicum conferences, and online-formats
• Convey or exchange accurate information in a clear and efficient manner to obtain a health history, identify problems presented, and explain alternative solutions
• Effectively communicate with and respond appropriately to other healthcare professionals’ questions, requests, and directions in classroom, lab and clinical settings
• Process and communicate information on the patient’s status including changes in mood, activity and posture and non-verbal communications with accuracy in a timely manner to members of the health care team
• Demonstrate the ability to handle themselves in all types of stressful situations; be calm and quiet, yet responsive, and be able to exhibit respect, concern and compassion for peers, staff and patients.

Psychomotor

• Adjust and operate diagnostic or therapeutic devices by manipulating knobs, dials, and keyboards
• Assemble medical equipment and supplies
• Coordinate fine and gross muscular movements to treat patients in emergency situations
• Engage in patient care delivery in all settings and deliver care to all patient populations including but not limited to children, adolescents, adults, individuals with disabilities, medically compromised patients and vulnerable adults
• Execute physical movements required to provide general care and treatment to all patients in all health care settings
• Safely move, lift and position heavy and/or large equipment, supplies and patients without assistive devices
• Operate equipment typically found in the health care environment including IV pumps, cardiac monitors, and electric and manual blood pressure equipment, safe handling equipment, operating room beds and stretchers and other equipment in the OR
• Perform basic life support, ventilation/compression (including CPR and AED), and other basic life support functions
• Respond to emergencies precisely, consistently, accurately, and quickly
• Safely assist a patient in moving from one place or another
• Transfer patients from bed to chair, bed to stretcher, stretcher to operating room bed
• Transport patients in wheelchairs and stretchers as necessary
• Push heavy equipment such as microscopes, C-arms, endoscopy towers and operating room tables
• Demonstrate stamina to stand in one place for long periods of time with minimal or no breaks
• Safely maneuver in small confined sterile spaces
• Ambulate unassisted without use of canes, crutches or assistive devices
• Perform appropriate manual dexterity with both fingers and hands to accurately load sharps and needles, pass surgical instruments and manipulate equipment safely
• Effectively perform tasks of scrubbing, gowning, gloving, set up of sterile field and functions of the surgical technologist within the sterile field

Intellectual-Conceptual, Integrative, and Quantitative

• Accurately perform mathematical calculations and calculate medication dosages
• Exercise factual, conceptual, procedural, and metacognitive knowledge
• Effectively prioritize multiple tasks
• Effectively take doctors’ orders
• Exercise good judgment in patient assessment
• Manage the demands of time constraints and frequent interruptions
• Measure, calculate, reason, analyze, integrate, synthesize and problem solve in the context of the level and the focus of their curricular program
• Perform data entry tasks using available technology
• Perform universal precautions against contamination
• Provide all aspects of patient care in the hospital setting
• Provide clear expression of personal ideas and feelings, demonstrations of bidirectional feedback, and sensitivity to persons with ideas and experiences that different from their own
• Use and interpret information from assessment techniques/maneuvers such as those involved in assessing respiratory and cardiac function, blood pressure, neurological status,
• Use and interpret information related to physiologic phenomena generated from diagnostic tools (sphygmomanometer, otoscope, ophthalmoscope) during a comprehensive examination of a patient

Professionalism

• Interact effectively with individuals of all ages, races, genders, socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds with respect for individual differences
• Effectively cope with demands of supervision, productivity, and heavy workloads with respect for duty
• Demonstrate respect, concern and compassion for peers, staff, and patients
• Adhere to the Great Falls College MSU Student Code of Conduct and the Surgical Technology Handbook
• Adhere to the Code of Ethics established by the Association of Surgical Technologists
• Demonstrate social responsibility and accountability
• Use diligence when performing tasks; being careless or reckless could cost a patient’s life
• Students must possess the capacity to be creative, adaptable, and resourceful, as well as believe in the highest standards of care and uphold the values of personal responsibility, honesty, integrity, ethical behavior, trust, and professionalism
• Exhibit emotional stability in stressful situations
• Function effectively under stress and to adapt to an environment that may change rapidly without warning and/or in unpredictable ways
• Maintain appropriate professional decorum in high stress situations and when exposed to unusual sights and smells
• Maintain confidentiality regarding all phases of work
• Exhibit and maintain a surgical conscience; the ethical and professional responsibility to uphold the highest standards of patient care and safety in the operating room

Occupational Exposure /Safety Skills

• Understand that you will be participating in real surgical interventions during your clinical rotations and there is an inherent risk of being exposed to airborne or blood-borne pathogens
• Occupational risks and exposures come from:
  • blood and body fluids, sharps, communicable and infectious diseases, ionizing radiation, anesthetic gases, smoke plume, chemotherapy drugs, latex, electromagnetic fields, formalin, disinfecting solutions, and unpleasant sites and odors
• Demonstrate safety regarding occupational risks and exposures and practice the ability to self-protect by using standard precautions and personal protective equipment when encountering patients and hazardous materials
• Practice the proper use of personal protective equipment when needed and wear them for duration of your shift
  • tight fitting mask, lead apron, safety googles, two pair of surgical gloves, and hair covering

Surgical Technology Program Assessment Plan: Outcomes, curriculum map, and plan are under review AY 21-22. Annual report will be submitted in May 2023.

Other than books and tuition:

• Immunizations
  • Possible: MMR, Tdap, PPD, Hep B, Varicella, Flu, COVID
• Surgical Scrubs; 2 pair
• Comfortable professional shoes
• transportation costs
• relocation costs, including room and board at distant clinical sites (all considerations will be reviewed before decisions are made for relocation)
• health insurance
• background check $92.50
• drug test
• Current CPR (Basic Life Support for Health Care Provider)
• Clinical rotation management portal – per healthcare facility $39.50+

CLINICALS

Students must demonstrate procedural proficiency by completing a minimum of 120 surgical cases in a variety of specialties.

Clinical Rotation Requirements are designed to fulfill the students’ case requirements for graduation. Depending on the year and the surrounding clinical facilities, it may be necessary for students to travel out of town. This is done at the expense of the student. Facility sites also require access to vaccination records, ID’s, current CPR, background checks and drug tests. The program director will organize the clinical rotation, and you will be placed in a facility at the discretion of the program director and clinical coordinator.

The first clinical rotation is 6 weeks long (3 days a week), the second is 8 weeks (3 days a week), and the final clinical rotation is 7 weeks (5 days a week). The clinical day will start around 6:30 a.m. and conclude around 3:30 p.m. These are not observation days. You will be assisting the surgeon in surgery with a preceptor at your side.

SAFEGUARDS

The health and safety of patients/clients, students, faculty and other participants associated with the educational activities of the students must be adequately safeguarded. Surgical technology students must be readily identifiable as students.

All activities required in the program must be educational and students must not be substituted for staff.