Surgical Technology Websites

thumb_surgtech.JPGANYONE can put information on the Internet. ANYONE. As a health care provider, you must carefully select and evaluate medical/health information before using it to treat patients or letting it influence how you perform your duties. Use the evaluating sources section of this guide to help you determine the credibility of Web sites. A great final test is to ask yourself, "Would I want myself or someone that I care deeply about to be treated based on this information?" If the answer is "no," don't include such non-credible information in your academic projects either!

small yellow star.jpgGeneral Medical Information Websites

You can use a search engine like Google or Bing to search specific surgical techniques and diseases/conditions by typing disease/conditionAND (surgery OR "surgical technique"). For example "prostate cancer" AND (surgery OR "surgical technique"). Examples of how to cite resources in APA style can be found via the Citing Sources link on the right-side of this page.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
CDC.gov provides users with credible, reliable health information on topics such as: data and statistics; diseases and conditions; emergencies and disasters; environmental health; healthy living; injury, violence and safety; life stages and populations; travelers' health; workplace safety and health; and much more. This site contains information appropriate for adults, teens and kids

small yellow star.jpgMEDLINEplus
Provides access to 900+ health topics, medical encyclopedias and dictionaries, and links to self-help groups, clinical trials, preformulated PubMed searches, lists of hospitals and physicians, health and information in Spanish and other languages. Includes listings of diseases & conditions by body system.

small yellow star.jpgMedScape Reference
An online clinical reference providing in-depth drug & disease information and tools to support clinical decision making. Content is designed for practicing medical professionals and includes diagnostic medical images. Free Registration to MedScape is required. To avoid registering and go straight to an entry in this resource, try Googling the word emedicine and your disease/condition (i.e. emedicine pneumonia).

Surgical Technology Associations & Organizations

Accreditation Review Council on Education in Surgical Technology and Surgical Assisting (ARC/STSA)
The only CAAHEP-recognized Committee on Accreditation for education programs in surgical technology and surgical assisting.

American College of Surgeons (ACS)
A scientific and educational association of surgeons that was founded in 1913 to improve the quality of care for the surgical patient by setting high standards for surgical education and practice.

Association of Surgical Assistants (ASA)
The Association of Surgical Assistants represents a broad coalition of surgical assistant practitioners, who share several common goals, including optimizing surgical patient care, promoting the recognition of all surgical assistants, advancing legislative strategies and providing relevant continuing education experiences.

Association of Surgical Technologists (AST)
Established in 1969, AST's primary purpose is to ensure that surgical technologists possess the knowledge and skill sets to administer the highest quality of care for every patient. AST actively promotes education for the profession; legislatively advocates for practitioner recognition; supports state-level constituent organizations; and has committed to students as the future of the profession.

Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP)
Accredits surgical technology programs upon the recommendation of the ARC-STSA

National Board of Surgical Technology and Surgical Assisting (NBSTSA)
Formerly called the LCC-ST, NBSTSA provides professional certification of surgical technologists (CST) and surgical first assistants (CSFA), thus promoting quality patient care in the surgical setting. NBSTSA is solely responsible for all decisions regarding certification; from determining eligibility to maintaining, denying, granting and renewing the designation.

Useful Surgical Technology Websites

American Heart Association--CPR Guidelines

Ethicon Knot Tying Manual
[PDF] The KNOT TYING MANUAL and practice board are available from ETHICON, INC., for all learners of suturing and knot—tying techniques.

Hardin MD: Surgery & Transplantation
Links to small, medium and large surgery and transplantation directory sites as well as sites containing surgery-related images

MediLexicon
MediLexicon contains searches, information, news and resources for the medical, pharmaceutical and healthcare professional. Resources include: medical dictionary, medical abbreviations, ICD9 Code search, medical equipment & surgical instrument search, latest health news

MEDLINEplus-National Library of Medicine: Videos of Surgical Procedures
Provides links to pre-recorded webcasts of surgical procedures. These are actual operations performed at medical centers in the United States since January 2004. RealPlayer is necessary to view the videos

Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA)
OSHA creates and enforces workplace safety standards. Of particular interest to surgical technologists are the following OSHA pages:

OR-Live
OR-Live features live and on-demand Webcasts of breakthrough medical procedures from world renowned medical centers and hospitals. Podcasts as well as live and pre-recorded video streams are available

Spartanburg Technical College Surgical Technology Web
From the Spartanburg Technical College--this site provides a glossary of surgical technology terms and includes photographs of instruments, equipment, and operating room setups

The "Virtual" Medical Center - Anesthesiology & Surgery Center
This site provides links to medical dictionaries and glossaries, interactive anatomy browsers, and online medical journals, as well as surgical and anesthesiology sites