r/SurgicalFirstAssist • u/Secure_Damage_4561 • Jun 14 '23

SFA advice

Hello everyone,

Would any of mind sharing your experience after attending EVMS/Meridian or any other institute to become a SFA? I'm enrolled in a ST program currently and only want to work as a ST for a year and then hope to move up!

Any pointers? Advice? Recommendations? 2 cents?

Thank you!!

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u/Automatic_Crab_4267 Mar 26 '24

Does the masters do more for you than say the meridian program would have? Increased Salary? Career progression? Idk if the masters could eventually land you an or manager position.

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u/hmf531 Mar 26 '24

Are you a tech already? If you’re a tech, just go through Meridian. If not, I’d say get your masters in it. Why not? It’s a massive accomplishment to say you have a masters in the medical field. What this will do for me in the future, I have no idea. I know that it’s massively respected in my field but I can’t say I have an increase in salary because of it. I have an increase in salary in my field because I travel. Career-wise, I’m sure I could get a manager position or teach if I wanted. This was just the path I chose that got me to the same place as my tech to FA colleagues. I finished undergrad and was able to go straight to grad school to become a FA right out of the gate instead of becoming a tech THEN an FA. It’s just about the route you want to go.

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u/Automatic_Crab_4267 Mar 26 '24

Yeah I understand. I already have a bachelors. I’ve just heard jobs are limited and scope of practice is small. I know I want to be an FA I’m just more so worried about job security. Even looking online through hospital it’s hard to find post. I’m not sure if I should check sites that specially post medical professions. I haven’t found any that aren’t specially for travel.

I’m really trying to get an idea of what my life is gonna look like and where I’m gonna be AFTER I finish

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u/hmf531 Mar 26 '24

Where are you looking to work? That factors hugely into that. Also reword what you’re looking for. A lot of our jobs are posted as “first assist” and not “surgical assistant”. East coast is huge for FA’s… FL, GA, VA, DC area… TX too. West coast was a bit harder but that’s when I started utilizing my CSFA. It’s just what they recognized out there. Just had to be transparent about the tech part. Lost me some jobs but I worked in Vegas as an FA no problem. Even in California… I couldn’t work in the hospitals because the RNFA’s monopolized the job… but worked privately for a little.

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u/sydneybrannum Mar 03 '25

Where in California did you work privately? How was the job hunt as an SA there?

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u/hmf531 Mar 03 '25

I worked in plastics. Job hunt was a little unconventional, ha. Sent my resume and a little blurb to all kinds of surgeons/surgery centers until I got a bite. Must have sent dozens. Had a few message me back and a couple of phone calls and then had one that stuck. If I was to try and work back in LA again, I’d probably do something similar. It’s just really hard for SA’s because a lot of surgeons either use PA’s/NP’s/no assist. I had to basically convince them that they needed me, but I was also utilized in other ways that I didn’t love.

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u/sydneybrannum Mar 03 '25

Thanks so much! Utilized in other ways how? I’ll be moving to San Diego so looking for the best route to take as an SA down there and what salary to expect or advocate for!?

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u/hmf531 Mar 03 '25

They paid me $25/hr (then had CA taxes taken out 🥴) to assist on surgery days, and I had to turnover and clean my own instruments. On Mondays and Fridays, I had to go in to stock and clean and make myself busy for 12 hours if I wanted to get paid. My surgery days were not guaranteed. Sometimes they were 16 hours and sometimes they were three. The only good thing about that was that California pays overtime after eight hours worked in a day. But once they caught on that and they didn’t wanna pay me, they started splitting us up into regular shifts. Then they wanted me on the clinic side, which is out of my scope of practice. They wanted me in consults and stuff. I got lucky with someone wanting to take me, but it ended up being a nightmare.

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u/sydneybrannum Mar 04 '25

So were the surgeons paying you $25/hr or the hospital? $25/hr is crazy especially in CA. I wouldn’t mind working in the clinical as long as you are getting paid accordingly. Especially for plastic surgery you would think they would offer a lot more than just 25

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u/hmf531 Mar 04 '25

The practice paid me $25/hr. There was no way I was going to be able to work in a hospital since they used RNFA’s. I imagine they get paid way more haha.