Shawn A. Knock
Surgical Technician
University of Wisconsin Hospital
Madison, WI.

Education :

• Surgical Technologist Certification at Mid State Technical College in Marshfield, WI

I am a surgical technician at the University of Wisconsin Hospital. As a technician, my daily duties include assisting surgeons before, during and after surgery.  I prepare the operating room by setting up surgical instruments and equipment, sterile drapes and sterile solutions.  I also assemble both sterile and non sterile equipment, as well as adjust and check it all to ensure it is working properly.  During the surgery, I assist the surgeon with the surgery by passing instruments and other sterile supplies to the surgeon.  I also hold retractors, cut sutures, and help count sponges, needles, supplies and instruments. After the surgery is finished, I help clean and restock the operating room for the next case.

My educational background consists of a nine month certification from a technical college. I received classroom education along with clinical experience. Some of the courses covered with the certification included the following: anatomy, physiology, microbiology, pharmacology and medical terminology.

I decided to pursue this career because I wanted to have a hands-on job where I could learn from all different types of surgeries and procedures. I knew I didn’t want to be sitting at a desk all day and this gave me the opportunity for something fast paced and exciting.

The best part of being a surgical technician is improving a person’s health by performing a number of different surgeries including total knee and total hip.  Although I do really enjoy my job, the worst part of it probably is the long hours which we sometimes face.  Working at a university hospital is definitely the most exciting part of the job. By working at the University of Wisconsin Hospital, we use the newest technology. We are performing surgeries and using different tools which are still in the experimental stages, and I find it very rewarding to be a part of it.

Over the past ten years, we have seen a great deal of change in the type of instruments we use and the techniques we perform during surgery. Also, in the past ten years there has been a fast increase in the number of health workers and this will continue to increase over the next ten years.