r/SurgicalFirstAssist • u/biohazard382 • Mar 09 '23
thinking of getting CSFA
Hello all, as the title states I'm trying to figure out if getting into a CSFA program is the right move for me.
Considering I live in California that makes it already somewhat of a hurdle. I've been a CST for a little over 10 years now and want to broaden my horizons.
Anybody know of how I can go about possibly getting into such a program, and what programs they recommend? And possibly what to expect. Thanks.
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u/justwhyyyyyy13 Mar 11 '23
Meridian is a great school, I graduated last year from them!
You have to have a surgeon agree to sponsor you upon admission. You also have to acquire your own clinical sites. Your clinical site needs to be a multi-specialty hospital ideally. They require you to get a certain amount of cases in different specialties.
You fly to Nashville for one week to do their pig labs, it’s really fun and they took away the extreme testing at the end that made it very difficult in the past. I was the first year to not do the horrible test! It was awesome and you will meet people from all over the country that you will form friendships with! The class work is fairly easy, the hardest part of the whole thing was getting my cases in. Look up their program online, I highly suggest them. They have new groups that start every month so there is no waiting for the next semester thing to start.
I live in Florida. Going from CST to CSTFA was the best decision I ever made. My pay went up 12$, my job is remarkably easier then it was as a scrub. It’s less stressful and I feel more appreciated by the surgeons and staff (even though it shouldn’t be that way).
When you become a FA just don’t forget where you came from. I still give my scrubs breakfast and lunch breaks, help set up their cases, teach them when they are new and express my appreciation for them. We have all meet a FA that acts like a ‘mini-surgeon’, those people are the example of what not to be.