How To Become A Certified Surgical Assistant: What It Is and Career Path

What is a certified surgical assistant and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a certified surgical assistant. For example, did you know that they make an average of $29.06 an hour? That's $60,436 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 6% and produce 195,400 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreCertified Surgical AssistantUS Average

Salary

4.7

Avg. Salary $60,436

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

8.5

Growth rate 6%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

7.4

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.71%

Asian 8.99%

Black or African American 8.93%

Hispanic or Latino 17.91%

Unknown 5.06%

White 58.40%

Gender

female 73.87%

male 26.13%

Age - 43

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 43

Stress level

8.5

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

7.6

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

8.3

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a certified surgical assistant

Explore certified surgical assistant education requirements

Most common certified surgical assistant degrees

Bachelor's

32.8 %

Associate

27.6 %

High School Diploma

14.2 %

Start to develop specific certified surgical assistant skills

Skills	Percentages
Patients	32.83%
CPR	7.13%
Surgical Procedures	6.19%
Vital Signs	3.83%
General Surgery	3.59%

Research certified surgical assistant duties and responsibilities

Administer nursing care under direct supervision to assign residents and patients in order to achieve maximum level of independence.
Utilize suturing techniques to assist with closure of body planes.
Maintain correct operative counts of sponges, instruments and sharps.
Specialize in patient interaction to inform patients of their diagnosis, conditions and procedures and/or surgical intervention need.

Prepare your certified surgical assistant resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your certified surgical assistant resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a certified surgical assistant resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable certified surgical assistant resume templates

Build a professional certified surgical assistant resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your certified surgical assistant resume.