FTCC’s Surgical Tech program is celebrating 50 years during the 2022-23 academic year.
Fayetteville Technical Community College’s Surgical Technology program is celebrating 50 years of success in 2023 with 1,193 graduates over five decades.
Demand for employees in this field is projected to keep growing, according to the Bureau for Labor Statistics.
FTCC’s Surgical Services Division includes two related pathways – Surgical Technology, an Associate Degree program that prepares students to ready operating rooms, arrange equipment and help physicians and other medical professionals in the operating room; and First Surgical Assistant, a certificate program that prepares qualified Surgical Technologists and other surgical professionals to assist surgeons with tasks such as making incisions, placing clamps and closing surgical sites during operative and other invasive procedures.
In both programs, the major objective is to assist graduates to achieve the highest standards of knowledge and competency to ensure a positive contribution to the total care of patients in the operating room.
“The celebration of our Surgical Technology program’s 50th anniversary represents the history of our graduates who have made a significant impact in the OR across the United States,” said Terry Herring, chair of FTCC’s Surgical Services Division and Surgical Technology Department.
FTCC’s Surgical Tech program is celebrating 50 years during the 2022-23 academic year.
The curriculum that would evolve into the Surgical Technology program began at FTCC in 1973. At that time, the College was called Fayetteville Technical Institute and the program stretched over two quarters and was called “Operating Assistants.” A year later, the program converted to three quarters and its name changed to “Operating Room Technician.” In 1979, in keeping with changes in the profession, the program name changed to Surgical Technologists.
FTCC’s program has been accredited since 1976 and, in 2016, it converted to the Associate Degree level. This transition was based on increasing requirements to provide better-qualified technologists capable of working in this highly technological discipline. Students now have greater opportunities in the specialty areas to develop competencies that will help them become more qualified for Surgical Technologist positions.
The SFA program was added in 2018, to meet the demands of the surgical workforce.
Since its start in 1973, the FTCC program has had three chairs – Herring (2003 – present), Rachel Addison (1994-2003) and Ethelyn Page (1973-1994).
In this photo from 2000, then-chair Rachel Addison (left) stands with founding chair Ethelyn Page and Terry Herring, who is the current program chair.
For information about FTCC’s Surgical Technology program, please visit https://www.faytechcc.edu/academics/healthcare-programs/surgical-technology/. For information about the Surgical First Assistant program, please visit https://www.faytechcc.edu/academics/healthcare-programs/surgical-first-assistant/.
For information about the Rachel Addison Surgical Services Endowed Scholarship at FTCC and more history about the program, please visit https://www.faytechcc.edu/giving/ftccs-foundation/#videobox.
Founded in 1961, Fayetteville Technical Community College is the third-largest community college in North Carolina, serving over 28,000 students annually through a wide variety of face-to-face and online programs.