Clinical Case Requirements

Clinical case requirements are defined by the Association of Surgical Technologists in the Core Curriculum for Surgical Technology, 6th edition, and are as follows:

  1. Students must complete a minimum of 120 cases.
  2. Students are required to complete a minimum of 30 cases in General Surgery. Twenty of these cases must be in the First Scrub Role. The remaining 10 cases may be performed in either the First or Second Scrub Role.
  3. Students are required to complete a minimum of 90 cases in various surgical specialties, excluding General Surgery. A minimum of 60 cases must be performed in the First Scrub Role and be distributed amongst a minimum of four specialties. A minimum of 10 cases in four different specialties must be completed in the First Scrub role (40 cases total). The additional 20 cases in the First Scrub role may be distributed amongst any one surgical specialty or multiple surgical specialties.  The additional 30 cases may be performed in any surgical specialty in either the First or Second Scrub Role.   

    Surgical specialties, excluding General Surgery, include:

    • Cardiothoracic
    • Genitourinary
    • Neurologic
    • Obstetric and gynecologic
    • Ophthalmologic
    • Oral/Maxillofacial
    • Orthopedic
    • Otorhinolaryngologic
    • Peripheral vascular
    • Plastics and reconstructive
    • Procurement and transplant
  4. As a student progresses towards graduation, the Surgical Technology program is required to verify through review of the surgical rotation documentation, the student's progression in First and Second Scrubbing surgical procedures of increased complexity.
  5. Participation in diagnostic endoscopy cases and vaginal delivery cases is not mandatory. But up to 10 diagnostic endoscopic cases and 5 vaginal delivery cases may be counted in the Second Scrub Role of the required 120 cases.
  6. Observation cases must be documented, but do not count toward the 120 required cases.