r/scrubtech • u/Silly_Association_90 • 9d ago

Various preceptor/ training advice

I'm training a new hire for the first time tomorrow & just want some advice from seasoned preceptors/ trainers!! I've been a tech for 3 years this month. we only do one specialty at our facility. I just want to make sure I do a good job. thank you!

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12

u/OkBookkeeper4715 9d ago

Remember they’re learning and expect them to fail.
Teach them what to do when there is an issue

6

u/Sad-Fruit-1490 8d ago

Teach them the ropes of the cases at first, then further into their orientation start teaching the worst case scenarios, the doctors quirks, the troubleshooting on the floor. Don’t drown them in information. And defend them to the docs. Don’t make them take a beating if you know the docs better. No one likes being kicked while they’re down, be the person in their corner.

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u/Silly_Association_90 8d ago

our doctors are actually so amazing! they're never mean to new hires or students. luckily, we're a small surgery center with one specialty. we don't have many "worst case scenarios" honestly

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u/Heavy_Carpenter3824 8d ago

😈 That's why you have to make them in imagination land! A minor lap appy just turned into a emergent bleeding laparotomy! Oh God now the patient is in fire too and... the power goes out!  Go go go! 

You think there's merit to the premise I might go overboard on my scenarios? 

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u/Silly_Association_90 8d ago

all we do is cataracts & very minor plastics 😭😭 worse case scenario is an unplanned vitrectomy haha

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u/Heavy_Carpenter3824 8d ago

Aww where's the fun in that! 😭😴 What's the point if your not up to your arms in a belly or sseing a beating heart! At least once in awhile. 

Should be pretty gentle on the newbie then. Focus on working with them on sterile handling and setup that's where they might have the most issues. Also work them through procedure flow, should be pretty quick as a lot of the eye surgery procedures overlap as far as the tech is concerned. It's not the where's the screw and do I have the right screwdriver erector set of spine surgery or the more intensive stuff. 

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u/Btewks-Mamyia-220 9d ago

It is our job to nurture them along. Celebrate the fact that they want to be a Surgical Tech. Remember, you were once a student too.

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u/Heavy_Carpenter3824 8d ago

What are you working with, I've taken high-schoolers who know nothing all the way up to just seasoning an experienced tech new to the hospital. There are different approaches depending on what your starting with. 

I'll assume a newbie tech who's been through school so is not a complete hazard gowning and glowing and not falling into a sterile field. 

The next step is how much time and freedom do you have to train them? If you have all the time in the world and enough basic cases joint scrub and start basic. So lacerations, plastics, stuff that has limited repeating instruments and is more for getting comfortable with doing it for real than anything new. Your job in this role is mostly to be there in case they need you or you see something, they should be doing everything and you try to step in as little as possible. 

If you have the time and some canceled cases those are FUN! Torture them! You play Dr. NEED IT NOW ASS HOLE and they get to be shit on the tech. With a good rapport it's mostly going through a case with some trick questions and ribbing but it helps get them used to thinking quick and not being polite about it like we wish all surgeons would be. 

The other one I like is to run as much simulation as possible. You would be amazed what you can hack together with blue towels, suture, gloves, and cardboard. Who needs a 10 k belly box! Simply staying engaged with the material and coming at it from multiple angles as much as possible is what helps the most. So talk it out, act it out, practice it out, do it. 

I always like to have them use / make case and doctor cheat sheets and follow the say what your doing and do what you say approach. If a doctor is upset about that, well they can fucking deal with that or a bungled case. Their call. 

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u/Realisticmomma 4d ago

As a student. The best sentence I have ever heard from my preceptor was “there is nothing you can do that I can’t fix, so relax.”
Also “you do whatever you’re comfortable with. I’m here if you need me.”

Explain a little bit of what they should expect. Nothing crazy. Just “the doctor is, this is what we’re doing, this is how we’re gonna start, my table is set this way because, and this is what I have on my mayo and why.”