Price, now a government affairs coordinator for the Association of Surgical Technologists, is quite familiar with this type of work. He served as a surgical technologist in the neurosurgery department at Johns Hopkins Hospital and later in the Cardiac Surgery Department at St. Joseph Medical Center.
Surgical technologists are integral members of the surgical team.
They work closely with surgeons, nurses, anesthesiologists and other surgical personnel to provide safe and effective care during invasive surgical procedures. They help setup the operating room with surgical instruments and equipment, check equipment, prepare patients for surgery and transport them to the operating room. During surgery, technologists have the primary responsibility for maintaining the sterile field. They help surgeons by passing instruments and sterile supplies. Under a surgeon's direction, they may sponge or suction the operative site, prepare suture material, dispense appropriate fluids and drugs and prepare specimens for pathologic analysis.