As someone with a military and medical background, Ben White likes leading and seeing people get that light of understanding in their eyes.
White went to Concorde Career College and then earned an associate degree in general studies from Odessa College. Ultimately, he wants to earn a master’s degree, but for now he is devoting himself to his job as the CST program director in the Surgical Technology program at Odessa College. CST stands for certified surgical technologist.
Before that, he was a medic in the U.S. Army and did two tours in Iraq. He joined at 18 in 2006 wanting to get out of the house, be independent and do his part.
White scored high enough on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, or ASVAB, test to get any job he wanted. He said he’d always been interested in the medical field with his mother being a nurse and his sister a nurse practitioner.
“I’ve always enjoyed helping people and being part of the good aspect of the world,” he said.
In Iraq, he ran a clinic and set up field clinics where they worked with Iraqi nationals.
“We’d help treat in the local population there. A lot of times they don’t have access to that health care and it was real eye-opening to kind of see those things and it’s a … real learning environment,” White said.
He was in the Army for four years and was discharged as a specialist promotable. That meant he was ready to be promoted to sergeant, but he decided to start his next chapter.
Students earn a two year associate degree. They take all their prerequisites the first year and the second year is solely surgical technology.
It used to be a certificate, he said.
“Surgical technology is an evolving field where we set up and assist the surgeons with their surgeries. We do pretty much every specialty there is. We’re the ones responsible for maintaining the sterility of it and setting up the actually surgery itself so the surgeons can perform it,” White said.
The profession used to be called perioperative nurses. As the field developed, it became more specialized and it took more training to do it, so the CST job was developed. Now most of the time, nurses are in the circulator role.
“A lot of people have moved toward the CST role, mainly because this is what we do. We’re trained. We come in, we know our instruments. We’re learning about this, specifically the anatomy and physiology, the types of surgeries and we’re specialized so it’s more of our area where nursing, you’re taking such a broad aspect of medicine and you specialize later in your field. Normally, there will be what you call CNORs, certified operating nurse, and that’s where they’re going to specialize and they can scrub (in),” White said.
OC brought back its surgical technology program in 2015, but it was accredited in 2017. White said Texas now requires you to graduate from an accredited program.
“And then you go and take your CST and you’re supposed to be licensed or certified to work,” White said.
Students are tested on a national level, so they are nationally certified and can work in any of the 50 United States without having to re-test.
White said you do have to refresh on the specific laws for a state. “We have a standardized skill set that we’re so proficient in that you can transfer from state to state and be just fine. They have travel and tech jobs all over the place. I get called all the time, but I like being here,” he said.
There are nine in the program currently. They are able to take 10 and run two cohorts a year with two instructors.
The number of students is based in part on the number of clinical spots in the area that are available and how many they think they can accommodate through their accrediting body.
They have students conduct peer evaluations because they are maintaining the sterility of the case in the OR, so they need to be able to identify when someone contaminates something or makes a mistake “and be able to call it.”
“That’s part of the curriculum where we’re watching and we’re going off what we do with each other,” White said.
He added that they are a tight-knit group that looks out for each other.
“It’s not one of those programs where we’re going to overload with students just to get more and pass it. We want to be able to teach and have successful employees go out into the workforce. With this program, we’re taking the aspects of surgical technology, professionalism. We’re taking these young adults and molding them to be professionals in the workplace, so once they hit the door of their new hospital that they’re working at or surgical center they’re ready to start. And ideally, once people hear that tech came from Odessa College, they’re just going to hire him on the spot,” White said.
He added that there is a strong demand for surgical technologists.
“I think they see the field growing 20 to 25 percent annually just because there’s more people needing surgery and they’re expanding it,” White said.
He added that Midland Memorial hired everyone from a class last year. People don’t necessarily know that the surgical technologist field exists.
“It’s a great field to work in,” he said.
White said he was asked to try teaching and precepting.
He had the experience of being in the Army and training soldiers, plus working at Odessa Regional Medical Center and Midland Memorial Hospital. He was the lead surgical technologist at ORMC where he worked in labor and delivery.
Asked if he might want to go back to working at hospitals, White said he enjoys what he’s doing now.
“I love Odessa College. I love the environment; the people. It’s very welcoming. They’re very supportive in really getting the students their education and it makes it easier for me to do my job with all the support. That’s something you don’t get everywhere. I’m not sure I want to let that go,” White said.
Students use all types of state-of-the art technology to simulate what it’s like to perform procedures and they also handle and sterilize instruments to prepare to go into an operating room.
“… This cohort is getting a step up on pretty much any of the programs in the nation because we have better technology. We have a lab simulator where they can actually see what it’s like to work a camera in a laparotic simulation before they go to the clinical side, so their learning curve is dramatically decreased and they’re going to be able to get that first hand experience. Most of the hospitals that I’ve talked to are excited (and) encouraged about that, and they’re working with the doctors to let them do this stuff more and sooner so that they can get their cases down and really have that impact as a student versus wait for them to get out,” White said.
When he graduated in 2013, they didn’t have anything like the equipment and facilities at OC.
“… We’re really kind of bridging the gap between the community and the doctors. With this capability, with the technology that we have here we’re able to … branch out with other fields and PAs and let them … train on it …,” White said.
Louis Madrid and Edith Heredia are both students in the program.
Madrid’s love of anatomy drew him in. He said it brings him the joy and satisfaction of helping others.
Heredia started as a certified nursing assistant.
“I think all those roles are important, but … I wanted to do some more. I had learned about the program through my school email and it just seemed really interesting, being able to be a part of helping others,” Heredia added.
Madrid and Heredia said the program is tough and there is a lot of time management involved.
“It’s one of the things we preach is time management, “White said. “We’re lucky that these two are always coming in extra on their own time, asking questions. We’ll open the lab up and go work stuff with them. That way they’re able to get that extra practice if they want to.”
Heredia said they appreciate that White is able to stay late to help them learn.
Their clinicals start at the end of October.
Madrid said they are nervous about starting them, but it’s nothing they can’t tackle.
“It’s exciting to finally get to step into the hospital; something that you’ve been like waiting for. I’ve been waiting for four years. It’s been a long journey,” Madrid said.
He added that he had wanted to be a nurse, but he wanted to be more hands on and see actual surgeries.
“And I learned about the program and I decided I needed a little bit more prereqs for this program, and I decided to go ahead and apply. I found out that it’s very competitive. There are only 10 spots,” Madrid said.
Heredia said they have to keep their grades up in anatomy and physiology.
“When we do our selection process, we base it on their grades and interview, see what their interests are, their ability to dedicate themselves to it, because it is something that requires a lot of time and effort. It’s not something you can just kind of skate through. …,” White said.
He added that they go over their medical terminology and break the words down.
“I’m very lucky to have a good cohort going through,” White said.
