Every CAAHEP-accredited surgical tech program must teach at least the content of the Core Curriculum for Surgical Technology. Here is that curriculum, section by section, as 42 free chapters in plain words, each mapped to the CST and TS-C cert exam outlines.
By CSTSetup: 11,500+ members, helping surgical techs since 2019.
These are the Core Curriculum's own sections, in the order the CAAHEP Standards list them in Appendix B. Each number below opens a chapter.
13 chapters · about 10.5 hours
Medical terminology, anatomy and physiology system by system, microbiology, pathophysiology, pharmacology with dosage calculations, and anesthesia.
5 chapters · about 5 hours
The surgical technologist's role and certification, law and ethics, communication and the team, the hospital and the operating room, and the patient as a whole person.
4 chapters · about 3.5 hours
Computers and records, electricity and electrosurgery, lasers, minimally invasive and robotic surgery, and interventional radiology.
3 chapters · about 2 hours
The equipment in every room, the instruments by name and job, and sutures, needles, drains and dressings.
1 chapter · 30 minutes
The rules of the sterile field, where contamination comes from, and what to do when sterility breaks.
1 chapter · 50 minutes
Decontamination, cleaning, disinfection, sterilization by each method, and sterile storage and distribution.
3 chapters · about 3 hours
Before, during and after the case: attire, opening the sterile field, counts, passing and anticipating, specimens, closing and turning over the room.
1 chapter · about 1.5 hours
Positioning, skin prep, vital signs, catheters and the other circulating tasks a surgical technologist may assist with.
CAAHEP accredits surgical technology programs on the recommendation of ARC/STSA, using the Standards and Guidelines for the Accreditation of Educational Programs in Surgical Technology. Two parts of them set the curriculum.
A program must show that what it teaches covers the Core Curriculum for Surgical Technology, in its most current edition.
"meets or exceeds the content and competencies specified in the most current edition of the Core Curriculum for Surgical Technology"
CAAHEP Standards (2023), III.C. The current edition is the 7th.
Appendix B lists the curriculum's sections and their objectives, from medical terminology to perioperative case management. It is an outline: the complete content guide is the Core Curriculum itself, and its nine sections are the ones above.
CAAHEP Standards (2023), Appendix B.
All 42 chapters are open to everyone, in teaching order. Times are reading times.
The body, germs, drugs and anesthesia: what everything else rests on
The job, the team, the law and the patient
The machines and methods of modern surgery
The core of the job, case by case
Specialty by specialty, with the setups and trays for each
Written for a first-year student and checked line by line against the standards and the references the cert exams draw on. Every chapter lists its sources.
Chapters show the actual instruments and preference cards from the CSTSetup library, with photos, where the text names them.
Each procedure chapter teaches the Core Curriculum's cases step by step: the setup, the steps, what to pass next, the counts and the wound class.
Each chapter names the CST and TS-C outline items it prepares a student for.
Every chapter ends with its key ideas and a few questions, each answered with why.
When a standard or a guideline changes, the chapter changes with it, and the date shows at the top.
The chapters are free for everyone. A program that joins the educators program gets what a director needs for the site visit and the cert exam, priced per student.
Perioperative Care: Preoperative Preparation 2, 4, 5, 10, 21; Intraoperative Procedures 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 19, 21, 22, 24, 25; Postoperative Procedures 3, 4, 8, 9
Ancillary Duties: Administrative and Personnel 1, 3
Basic Science: Anatomy and Physiology 1, 4a, 4d; Microbiology 1a, 1c, 1d; Surgical Pharmacology 1a, 1c, 1d, 2
Perioperative Care and Preparation: Basic Science 1, 2, 3, 4; Environmental Safety 1, 4; Communication and Reporting 1, 5
Preoperative Care and Preparation: Surgical Procedure Set-Up 2, 3; Patient Safety 1; Sterile Technique 5
Intraoperative Care and Preparation: Surgeon Support 2, 7, 8
End of Procedure Tasks and Postoperative Care: End of Procedure Tasks 1, 5, 6; Postoperative Tasks 1
Knowledge base: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 15, 17, 19, 20
Numbers are the outline items in the 2024 CST content outline and TS-C test plan.
CAAHEP-accredited programs teach the AST Core Curriculum for Surgical Technology, now in its 7th edition: healthcare sciences, professional practice, technological science concepts, equipment, instruments and supplies, asepsis and sterile technique, sterile processing, perioperative case management, assistant circulator duties and surgical procedures by specialty.
They are the Standards and Guidelines for the Accreditation of Educational Programs in Surgical Technology, which CAAHEP applies on the recommendation of ARC/STSA. For the curriculum, Standard III.C requires content that meets or exceeds the current edition of the Core Curriculum for Surgical Technology, and Appendix B outlines its sections.
Yes. Standard III.C requires a CAAHEP-accredited program to show that its curriculum meets or exceeds the content and competencies of the most current edition of the Core Curriculum for Surgical Technology.
Yes. All 42 chapters are free to read, with no account. The program portal, with the coverage map, teaching notes, the skills checklist and the case log, is priced per student. Practice, study cards and chapter exams for each chapter are on the way.
About 42.5 hours. Most chapters take 30 to 95 minutes, and the longer ones are planned as two 50-minute classes.
We set the program portal up with you on a call: your accreditor, your classes and your instructors. Your students join by email.
CSTSetup is independent. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by CAAHEP, ARC/STSA, AST, ABHES, NBSTSA or NCCT, and their standards and outlines belong to them.
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