What does a surgeon's assistant do?
Surgeon's assistant responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real surgeon's assistant resumes:
- Manage insurance authorization and hospital bookings for surgery.
- Perform in-office suturing and skin closures in the operating room.
- Perform vital sign checks, glucose level assessments and EKG's.
- Provide education to patients anticipating surgery, to reduce patient anxiety, and enhance surgical outcome.
- Gather outpatients' background and provide companionship and emotional support for thoracic cancer patients and families.
- Board-Certify dermatologist performing Mohs surgery, advance reconstruction, blepharoplasty, liposuction, cosmetic & medical dermatology.
- Manage insurance authorization and hospital bookings for surgery.
Surgeon's assistant skills and personality traits
We calculated that 19% of Surgeon's Assistants are proficient in Patients, Ortho, and EMR. They’re also known for soft skills such as Communication skills, Compassion, and Detail oriented.
We break down the percentage of Surgeon's Assistants that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Patients, 19%
Provided education to patients anticipating surgery, to reduce patient anxiety, and enhance surgical outcome.
- Ortho, 17%
Experience in Ortho, Eyes, ENT, OB/Gyn, General, Plastics and Endoscopy.
- EMR, 16%
Format of medical reports closely assimilated what is now the guideline of the current EMR format.
- General Surgery, 8%
general surgery bread and butter surgery in critical access rural hospital
- Surgical Procedures, 7%
Sterilize and setup instruments for dental/surgical procedures.
- Direct Patient Care, 5%
Direct patient care including pre/ Post-op follow up.
"patients," "ortho," and "emr" are among the most common skills that surgeon's assistants use at work. You can find even more surgeon's assistant responsibilities below, including:
Communication skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a surgeon's assistant to have is communication skills. Their role and responsibilities require that "physicians and surgeons need to be excellent communicators." Surgeon's assistants often use communication skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "expanded on communication skills with doctors and nurses from the various units as well as patients. "
Compassion. Many surgeon's assistant duties rely on compassion. "patients who are sick or injured may be in extreme pain or distress," so a surgeon's assistant will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways surgeon's assistant responsibilities rely on compassion: "provided and directed patient care in an appropriate and compassionate manner. "
Detail oriented. This is an important skill for surgeon's assistants to perform their duties. For an example of how surgeon's assistant responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "patients must receive appropriate treatment and medications." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a surgeon's assistant: "obtain detailed historical data from patients and perform focused physical examinations. ".
Dexterity. A big part of what surgeon's assistants do relies on "dexterity." You can see how essential it is to surgeon's assistant responsibilities because "physicians and surgeons may work with very precise and sometimes sharp tools, and mistakes can have serious consequences." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical surgeon's assistant tasks: "gained invaluable knowledge of the medical industry and patient care; developed diagnostic and problem-solving skills through hands-on clinical experience. "
Leadership skills. A commonly-found skill in surgeon's assistant job descriptions, "leadership skills" is essential to what surgeon's assistants do. Surgeon's assistant responsibilities rely on this skill because "physicians who work in their own practice must manage a staff of other professionals." You can also see how surgeon's assistant duties rely on leadership skills in this resume example: "delivered advice to surgeon general and executive leadership on public health policies, project implementation, and milestone establishment. "
Physical stamina. Another skill commonly found on surgeon's assistant job descriptions is "physical stamina." It can come up quite often in surgeon's assistant duties, since "physicians and surgeons should be comfortable lifting or turning disabled patients, or performing other physical tasks." Here's an example from a resume of how this skill fits into day-to-day surgeon's assistant responsibilities: "provide patient education, pre-operative physicals. "
The three companies that hire the most surgeon's assistants are:
- Cleveland Clinic3 surgeon's assistants jobs
- University Of Minnesota Physicians2 surgeon's assistants jobs
- University of Oklahoma1 surgeon's assistants jobs
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Compare different surgeon's assistants
Surgeon's assistant vs. Upper extremity surgeon
Orthopaedic surgeons are healthcare professionals who are responsible for treating pain related to the musculoskeletal system of the body. These licensed medical experts are required to examine, diagnose, and treat diseases and injuries related to the musculoskeletal system such as dislocated joints, back pain, and arthritis. They can recommend surgery or non-surgical treatment to their patients after assessing their health condition. Orthopaedic surgeons must also collaborate with other health care providers, such as physical therapists to help understand the patients' medical problems.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, surgeon's assistant responsibilities require skills like "patients," "ortho," "emr," and "epic." Meanwhile a typical upper extremity surgeon has skills in areas such as "appointment scheduling," "clinical education," "diagnosis codes," and "clinic flow." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
The education levels that upper extremity surgeons earn slightly differ from surgeon's assistants. In particular, upper extremity surgeons are 26.9% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a surgeon's assistant. Additionally, they're 13.9% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Surgeon's assistant vs. Foot and ankle surgeon
Each career also uses different skills, according to real surgeon's assistant resumes. While surgeon's assistant responsibilities can utilize skills like "patients," "ortho," "epic," and "general surgery," foot and ankle surgeons use skills like "private practice," "patient care," "hospital surgery," and "medical diagnosis."
Average education levels between the two professions vary. Foot and ankle surgeons tend to reach similar levels of education than surgeon's assistants. In fact, they're 0.9% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 13.9% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Surgeon's assistant vs. Reconstructive surgeon
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a surgeon's assistant is likely to be skilled in "patients," "ortho," "epic," and "general surgery," while a typical reconstructive surgeon is skilled in "cosmetic surgery," "surgery scheduling," "hand surgery," and "patient appointments."
Most reconstructive surgeons achieve a higher degree level compared to surgeon's assistants. For example, they're 7.3% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.1% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Surgeon's assistant vs. Orthopaedic surgeon
Types of surgeon's assistant
Updated January 8, 2025
