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Boston Career Explorer

Healthcare Practitioners and Technical

Surgical Technologists

Assist in operations, under the supervision of surgeons, registered nurses, or other surgical personnel. May help set up operating room, prepare and transport patients for surgery, adjust lights and equipment, pass instruments and other supplies to surgeons and surgeons' assistants, hold retractors, cut sutures, and help count sponges, needles, supplies, and instruments.

Also called: Central Supply Technician (Central Supply Tech), Certified Scrub Technician (Certified Scrub Tech), CST (Certified Surgical Technologist), OR Surgical Tech (Operating Room Surgical Technician), OR Tech (Operating Room Technician), OR Technologist (Operating Room Technologist)

Compare with my current job (Ophthalmic Medical Technicians)
Median pay in Greater Boston
$81,500
$39.18/hr
Jobs in Greater Boston
1,550
Massachusetts 2024–2034
+1.9%
130 openings a year
Typical U.S. entry requirement
Postsecondary nondegree award

Greater Boston: Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH metro area, May 2025. Growth and openings: Massachusetts statewide projection.

Pay range in Greater Boston

Yearly pay in Greater Boston by percentile
10th25thMedian75th90th
$61,690$74,980$81,500$99,580$116,340

10% of workers earn less than the first figure and 10% earn more than the last.

What you’d do

  • Maintain a proper sterile field during surgical procedures.
  • Count sponges, needles, and instruments before and after operation.
  • Hand instruments and supplies to surgeons and surgeons' assistants, hold retractors and cut sutures, and perform other tasks as directed by surgeon during operation.
  • Scrub arms and hands and assist the surgical team to scrub and put on gloves, masks, and surgical clothing.
  • Wash and sterilize equipment, using germicides and sterilizers.
  • Prepare patients for surgery, including positioning patients on the operating table and covering them with sterile surgical drapes to prevent exposure.

AI and this job

AI exposure: how much of this job’s work AI tools can do or help with, based on national research. It is not a forecast of job loss.

Lower exposure24 of 100

The index averages three national research measures, each shown as a percentile of all jobs:

  • AIOE 34
  • Language-model AIOE 32
  • GPTs-are-GPTs 6

Observed AI use today: Little or none (Anthropic Economic Index)

Surgical technologists have lower AI exposure, and observed AI use in this work is little or none. AI tools might help a little with supply tracking or records. The main tasks are hands-on and happen in the operating room: keeping the sterile field, counting instruments, passing tools to surgeons, and preparing equipment. These tasks rely on people.

Likely to change

  • Tracking supplies and instrument records
  • Scheduling and room set-up paperwork

Still relies on people

  • Keeping the sterile field during surgery
  • Handing instruments to the surgical team

Written with AI from the data on this page. Check with a career coach before making a decision.

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Training near Boston

College and school programs in the Boston metro area that lead to this job, with 2023-24 completions (IPEDS).

8 programs near Boston

Related occupations

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