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Committed to Excellence- QCC Only College with 100% Surgical Technology Pass Rate

Contact: Karen Hutner
Office of Institutional Communications
khutner [at] qcc.mass.edu

 

Release Date: 
12/18/2018

WORCESTER, MA—December 18, 2018— Quinsigamond Community College’s Surgical Technology program received notification from the National Board of Surgical Technology and Surgical Assisting that 100 percent of the college’s program graduates who attempted the National Certification Examination (August 2017 – July 2018) passed the exam. These graduates will now hold the title of Certified Surgical Technologist. QCC is one of seven schools in Massachusetts that offers surgical technology programs and is the only one to have a 100 percent pass rate this year. For the last two years the college has attained a 100 percent pass rate. Since the end of 2012, surgical technologists have had to be certified in Massachusetts in order to perform surgical technology tasks. QCC’s program has been in existence since 1999.

“This is something we are immensely proud of at the college. Our students will now be able to enter the workforce and make a positive impact on the lives of others,” said QCC President Dr. Luis G. Pedraja.

QCC’s Surgical Technology Certificate prepares students with the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to provide services in the operating room in the role of surgical technologist, as part of a surgical team. Students learn the basic sciences, operating room policies and procedures, safe patient care, operating room techniques, surgical procedures, and have direct clinical experience in their last semester.

QCC Professor of Surgical Technology, Deborah Coleman, said the students have in-class practice exams, which help prepare them to take the national exam. She said the clinical work they do is also beneficial to their success on the exam.

“It was great to congratulate the surgical tech graduates at their pinning ceremony and hear that they all had been offered jobs before they even had taken the certification exam. The operating room managers know that our students are prepared for the workforce and they are hiring them before graduation,” said QCC Dean of Healthcare C. Pat Schmohl, Jr.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2017 the median annual wage for surgical technologists was $46,310, with employment for surgical technologist expected to grow 12 percent from 2016 to 2026.

Quinsigamond Community College is the most affordable higher education in Worcester County. As a regional leader in education and workforce development, QCC serves the diverse educational needs of Central Massachusetts by providing affordable, accessible, and high quality programming leading to transfer, career, and lifelong learning.