ACE Surgical Skill Lab is the Secret to Your Success

I know... all you do is hold retractors, suction, and cut suture. Your hospital doesn’t call that surgical first assistant. In fact, it’s in your job description, right? Let me assure you. If there is no official first assistant and you are standing right across from your surgeon holding a retractor or whatever, YOU ARE THE SURGICAL FIRST ASSISTANT! It doesn’t matter what they call it at your hospital. You need training for this surgeon assistant position and you owe it to yourself to complete the Surgical Assistant Program provided by ACE Surgical Assisting. That would be the ideal but, at the very least, do yourself a favor and take this 6 day lab in order to:

• Practice all the right surgical first assist skills
• Practice the applications of those skills in simulated surgeries
• Practice for 6 days with an expert
• Practice afterwards until you’ve fully mastered your first assist skills and can apply them expertly in all circumstances, and under any pressure

Here's What You Get

Just listing skills you are about to learn doesn’t begin to do justice to what the surgeon assist training experience is going to do for your medical career and your life. With ACE’s market-leading Surgical SkillLab^™ you get:

• 154 surgical skills from incision through wound closure.
• 4 simulated surgeries to gain advanced skills and dynamic surgical assisting behaviors.
• Numerous hands-on applications of your new skills.
• And just to make sure you get it all, ACE’s Lifetime Access For Skills Mastery. Retake the lab as many times as you want for no extra charge.
• Your surgical first assist school training is supported by 3 major industry leaders: Covidien; W.L. Gore & Associates; and Ansell Occupational Healthcare.
• ACE Surgical Assisting is affiliated with 350+ hospitals nationwide.
• Semester credits are available.

Learn More about Surgical SkillLab^™.

The Expert Way: Surgical Surgical SkillLab^™ Training

The Surgical SkillLab^™ is the crown jewel of the ACE Surgical Assistant Program. Proper skills are vital to high-performance in the operating room. The lab is six days of extensive, practical, and hands-on surgical assistant training ever designed to develop surgical first assist skills. Descriptions of each class are presented in the ACE Surgical Assisting school brochure. The Surgical SkillLab^™ is scheduled in towns where we have a high concentration of students or at hospitals that have volunteered their locations. You can sign up for the lab at any time during your online program, or it can be taken as a standalone for those who have the academic knowledge, but need practical, hand-on first assist practice such as:

• Any Surgical Technician or Operating Room Nurse who may have to first assist as part of their job description or who, in the course of their duties, may have to first assist when the scheduled surgical first assistant is late or doesn’t show up.
• Licensed or non-licensed MD’s or DO’s—USA or foreign trained, PA’s, or NP’s. It is preferable, but not required, to have scrub experience in the OR.
• Surgical Assistants or RN First Assistants that have successfully completed a formal training program and/or were certified to first assist. These profes­sionals may take the lab as a refresher or to upgrade their skills and knowledge.
• Current students in a Surgical Assistant Program, RNFA Program, Medical School, or Surgical Residency Program. These students may elect to take the lab in order to achieve a higher level of preparation before starting their clinical internship.

Get Rid of the Retractor and Start Assisting For Real

Ok, so you may still have to hold a retractor from time to time. It just shouldn’t be the limit of your value and contribution. The Surgical SkillLab™ is part of the First Surgical Assistant School Program but you can also take it by itself to gain new skills or improve on skills you have. A lot of people take the lab because they learned how to assist on-the-job and now they want undo bad habits and learn the right way – the way experts do it. But even if you’ve never assisted before, you can easily learn the ‘expert way’ from the beginning instead of starting at entry-level.

See the Daily Topics & Agenda

Find The Skill Lab Nearest You

Check out the upcoming dates and locations for the surgical skill lab.

Prepare for the Lab

Check out these how-to videos to get you started learning the skills you’ll perfect during the 6-day skill lab. Watching these videos before you attend the lab will allow you to start ahead.

Sign Up Today for ACE Surgical Assistant Program

Get the hand-on skills practice you need to become an expert first surgical assistant. Register now by completing the form on this page to download the registration packet. Or, download our brochure or ACE First Surgical Assistant School Catalog to get more information about the 6-day Surgical SkillLab^™ program from ACE Surgical Assisting.