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| Why Surgical Assisting should be regulated? |
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Surgery is inherently dangerous and should be regulated. |
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Other states have agreed in its review of the need to regulate the profession that the inherent danger of surgery and lack of clearly defined roles in the operating room (OR) are such that warrants the registration of the profession. |
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In Texas, the Attorney General's Office publicly stated its support of the need to regulate the profession to ensure the public's safety. |
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Surgical Assisting is an allied health occupation that is generally unknown to both the public and the legislator. The public, in general, is unaware of the allied health occupations in terms of their overall nature, educational requirements, interacting and overlapping roles. |
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The general public does not have the opportunity to evaluate the qualifications of Surgical Assistants and must rely upon the standards set by the employer or hospital, which may vary. |
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These roles are of a nature to place the public at increased risk for harm if competency is not minimally ensured. |
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Surgical Assistants demonstrate a great deal of sophisticated decision-making, problem solving, technically oriented tasks within the duties they perform. This is to safeguard a patient in the operating room environment and to facilitate the technical aspects of the operative intervention. These cognitive and analytical processes require highly specialized knowledge and skill, which are acquired through education and experience. |
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In the first assistant role, Surgical Assistants work with the primary Surgeon and other health care team members to achieve optimal patient outcomes. In addition to contributing their skills in anatomic identification and vigilance with detection of potential problems, the Surgical Assistant may also perform certain duties of the procedure (such as closing) themselves. In its more complex form, this role should only be available to those who are specifically trained and monitored. |
| What efforts have been made to address the problem? | |
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AST has established a broadly phrased code of ethics, yet certification for the "non-physician first assistant" is currently voluntary and enforcement is limited to censure or revocation of certification, which is applicable only to practitioners who choose the become certified. Even then, such actions could be ignored by an employer (especially those employers who do not require certification in the first place). AST does not have a mechanism for resolving complaints or disputes brought by the public, nor does any other organization. |
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Certified individuals must periodically renew their credentials (by meeting continuing education requirements or recertifying by examination) in order to maintain the currency of their certification. |
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These entities and standards collectively represent an adequate and stable mechanism for establishing, evaluating and testing minimal competencies. However, both accreditation and certification are voluntary processes. |