Time Frame

• The surgery assistant training program takes between 10 months and 22 months to complete. In addition to the time it takes to complete the actual program, students must have previously completed health profession training, such as nursing or physician assisting training.
  
  

Considerations

• The student of a surgery assistant training program needs to consider that the program entails prerequisites, such as computer literacy training, current experience in operating scrub or surgical assisting protocol and proof of liability insurance, says CAAHEP, a commission governing allied health education programs.
  
  

Function

• Surgery assistant training provides the student with the ability to function in the surgical setting, by providing intraoperative training skills. These skills include proper patient positioning, closure of wound layers and inserting drainage tubes. In addition, the student learns to use electrocautery equipment, provides tissue retraction and harvests veins, all under the guidance of the attending surgeon.