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The Surgical Counts App: Tracking Your Case Counts

Every case you scrub counts toward graduation. Here is what counts, how many you need, and what an app that keeps your count should do.

3 min read
The Surgical Counts App: Tracking Your Case Counts

"Surgical counts" means two things. In the OR it is the sponge, sharp and instrument count. That has its own guide. In school it means your case count: the cases you have scrubbed, adding up to what your program needs before you graduate.

This is about the second one, and about the app that keeps it. A good one does more than hold a list. It tells you, all year, exactly how far you are from done.

How many cases you need

It depends on the credential your program prepares you for. Pick yours:

Certified Surgical Tech

AST standard
120Total cases
General Surgery 30 cases at minimum. At least 20 of them as a First Scrub
Specialty 90 cases at minimum. At least 60 of them as a First Scrub

Tech in Surgery, Certified

NCCT standard
125Total cases
First Scrub 90 cases at minimum.
General Surgery 30–50 cases. A range, not a floor: no fewer than 30 and no more than 50.

Certified Surgical First Assistant

CC4SA standard
140Total cases
General Surgery 20 cases at minimum.

What counts as a case

Each case is logged with the role you played, and the role decides what it counts toward. It comes from five questions about what you did yourself:

  1. Case PreparationGathered supplies, opened the sterile field, prepared the room.
  2. Scrubbing & GowningScrubbed, gowned and gloved yourself.
  3. Sterile SetupSet up the sterile field, organised instruments and supplies.
  4. Intraoperative ParticipationPassed instruments and assisted during the procedure.
  5. Postoperative BreakdownBroke down the field and handled specimens or counts.
  • All five: First Scrub. It counts toward your total and your first scrub minimums.
  • One to four: Second Scrub. It counts toward your total, not your first scrub minimums.
  • None: Observation. For the CST it counts for nothing at all; TS-C and CSFA programs count it.

Only cases your program has approved count. A case waiting for review is not on your total yet, and a rejected one never is. The logging guide goes through every rule, with a checker.

What a case count app should do

Log from your phoneRight after the case, while you still remember what you actually did.
Count as you goEvery approved case added to your total the moment it is approved, against your own standard.
Show what you are short onSpecialty minimums and first scrub floors, months before the deadline rather than the week of it.
No paper to chaseYour preceptor confirms the case by scanning a code on your phone. No sheet to get signed and photograph.
Example · a CST student part way through the year
84 of 120 cases approved3 waiting for review
Total Cases84 / 120
General Surgery31 / 30
General, First Scrub18 / 20
Specialty53 / 90
Specialty, First Scrub34 / 60

Every row fills as your program approves your cases.

Keeping your case count on CSTSetup

On CSTSetup, your case log runs through your program: your instructor sets up the class, and you log cases from the app, counted against your standard as each one is approved. If your program already uses it, you are set.

If your program uses a different tracker, keep logging there. That is the record your program submits. The setups, instrument library and flashcards in the app work for you either way.

Teaching a surgical tech program?
CSTSetup's accreditation tool scores every student's cases against AST, NCCT or CC4SA, with preceptor sign-off from a phone, GPS-checked hours and NCCT forms. Your existing records come across in minutes.
For programs

Surgical case counts: common questions

Do observation cases count?

Not toward the CST: an observation counts for nothing at all. TS-C and CSFA programs do count them.

Does a case count before it is approved?

No. It counts once your program approves it.

What if I logged the wrong role?

Fix it before it is approved, or ask your instructor to. A role that overstates what you did is the error audits look for first.

Your count, on your phone.

Your case log, setups by procedure, and the instrument library, in one app.

Get the app

Instructor? Bring your class across with every case they have logged