Surgical Technologist Jobs
Training and Education Jobs and Salaries
Surgical technologists hold about 86,000 jobs. About 70 percent of jobs for surgical technologists are in hospitals, mainly in operating and delivery rooms. Other jobs were in offices of physicians or dentists who perform outpatient surgery and in outpatient care centers, including ambulatory surgical centers. A few technologists, known as private scrubs, are employed directly by surgeons who have special surgical teams, like those for liver transplants.
Employment of surgical technologists is expected to grow much faster than the average for all occupations. Job opportunities will be best for technologists who are certified. Employment of surgical technologists is expected to grow 24 percent between 2006 and 2016, much faster than the average for all occupations, as the volume of surgeries increases. The number of surgical procedures is expected to rise as the population grows and ages.
Older people, including the baby boom generation, who generally require more surgical procedures, will account for a larger portion of the general population. In addition, technological advances, such as fiber optics and laser technology, will permit an increasing number of new surgical procedures to be performed and also will allow surgical technologists to assist with a greater number of procedures.
Hospitals will continue to be the primary employer of surgical technologists, although much faster employment growth is expected in offices of physicians and in outpatient care centers, including ambulatory surgical centers. Job opportunities will be best for technologists who are certified.
Median annual earnings of wage-and-salary surgical technologists are around $36,000. The middle fifty percent earn between $30,500 and $43,500. The lowest ten percent earn less than $25,500, and the highest ten percent earn more than $51,000.
Median annual earnings in the industries employing the largest numbers of surgical technologists are as follows: jobs in offices of physicians pay around $37,500, jobs in outpatient care centers pay about $37,000, jobs in general medical and surgical hospitals pay about $36,000 and surgical technologists jobs in offices of dentists pay about $34,000.
Benefits provided by most employers include paid vacation and sick leave, health, medical, vision, dental insurance and life insurance, and retirement program. A few employers also provide tuition reimbursement and child care benefits. Other health occupations requiring approximately one year of training after high school include dental assistants, licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses, clinical laboratory technologists and technicians, and medical assistants.