Healthcare Practitioners and Technical · Holland code RCS

Surgical Technologists

Assist in operations, under the supervision of surgeons, registered nurses, or other surgical personnel. May help set up operating room, prepare and transport patients for surgery, adjust lights and equipment, pass instruments and other supplies to surgeons and surgeons' assistants, hold retractors, cut sutures, and help count sponges, needles, supplies, and instruments.

Also called: CST (Certified Surgical Technologist), OR Surgical Tech (Operating Room Surgical Technician), OR Technologist (Operating Room Technologist), Surgical Scrub Technologist (Surgical Scrub Tech), Central Supply Technician (Central Supply Tech), Certified Scrub Technician (Certified Scrub Tech), OR Tech (Operating Room Technician), Scrub Technician (Scrub Tech).

O*NET 29-2055.00

At a glance

US median annual pay: $64,650; Middle half earn $54,690 to $79,750. BLS OEWS, May 2025.
Preparation needed: Job Zone 3 of 5; Medium preparation. Zone 1 is little or none; zone 5 is graduate-level.

What the work involves

The tasks workers in this occupation rate as most important, from the O*NET survey.

Maintain a proper sterile field during surgical procedures.
Count sponges, needles, and instruments before and after operation.
Hand instruments and supplies to surgeons and surgeons' assistants, hold retractors and cut sutures, and perform other tasks as directed by surgeon during operation.
Scrub arms and hands and assist the surgical team to scrub and put on gloves, masks, and surgical clothing.
Wash and sterilize equipment, using germicides and sterilizers.
Prepare patients for surgery, including positioning patients on the operating table and covering them with sterile surgical drapes to prevent exposure.
Schedule surgical procedures for patients.
Prepare, care for, and dispose of tissue specimens taken for laboratory analysis.

Skills and knowledge it leans on

Skills

Monitoring3.6 / 5
Active Listening3.3 / 5
Reading Comprehension3.1 / 5
Speaking3.1 / 5
Critical Thinking3.0 / 5
Active Learning3.0 / 5

Knowledge areas

Medicine and Dentistry4.1 / 5
English Language4.0 / 5
Customer and Personal Service3.8 / 5
Education and Training3.3 / 5
Production and Processing2.7 / 5
Psychology2.7 / 5

Importance ratings on O*NET’s 1 to 5 scale. Higher means the occupation depends on it more.

Who tends to enjoy it

How strongly this occupation draws on each of the six Holland interest types, which is the same profile the career interests test compares you against.

Realistic88
Investigative37
Artistic0
Social47
Enterprising10
Conventional64

The same work abroad

Other countries classify jobs differently, so these are the closest matches through the international ISCO-08 standard, not exact equivalents.

European occupation titles (ESCO)

podiatry assistant · DE Podologieassistent/Podologieassistentin · FR assistant podologue/assistante podologue
clinical perfusion scientist · DE Fachassistent Herz-Kreislauf-Funktionsdiagnostik/Fachassistentin Herz-Kreislauf-Funktionsdiagnostik · FR perfusionniste clinique
anatomical pathology technician · DE Pathologieassistent/Pathologieassistentin · FR technicien en anatomopathologie/technicienne en anatomopathologie
dental technician · DE Zahntechniker/Zahntechnikerin · FR technicien de fabrication de matériel dentaire/technicienne de fabrication de matériel dentaire
prosthetist-orthotist · DE Orthopädist Prothetik und Orthetik/Orthopädistin Prothetik und Orthetik · FR orthoprothésiste
prosthetic-orthotics technician · DE Orthopädietechnik-Mechaniker/Orthopädietechnik-Mechanikerin · FR technicien podo-orthésiste prothésiste/technicienne podo-orthésiste prothésiste

Closest UK occupation groups (SOC 2020)

Occupational therapists (2222)56,000 employed
Podiatrists (2256)16,200 employed
Precision instrument makers and repairers (5224)15,800 employed

Employment is the UK Annual Population Survey for April 2025 to March 2026, all workers in the group, which can be broader than this one occupation.

Pay across Europe, for the whole group

Median annual earnings of all employees in “Technicians and associate professionals”. This is the broad ISCO group this occupation falls in, not the occupation itself, so treat it as context for the wage level, not as a salary for this job.

Median annual earnings, Technicians and associate professionals, by country
Country	Median pay
Belgium	€50,992
Austria	€46,986
Germany	€44,473
Netherlands	€42,448
Ireland	€41,613
Sweden	€41,155
Italy	€34,882
France	€34,816
Spain	€29,757
Portugal	€18,080
Poland	€12,108

Eurostat Structure of Earnings Survey, businesses with ten or more employees outside public administration, in euro and not adjusted for the cost of living. Reference years differ between sources: the US, Japan and Europe figures on this page come from different survey years, so compare them as rough levels, not to the euro or yen.

Exposure to AI

This occupation sits in the middle third of the 774 occupations scored, with an exposure score of -0.48. The scores are standardized across those occupations, so 0 is the average and a score of 1 is about one standard deviation above it.

Our note on reading it: the dataset links AI applications to the abilities that occupations require, so the score reflects overlap between the two. It is a comparison between occupations, not a forecast about jobs. It does not say whether exposure means tasks are replaced or workers get more done with the tools, and it says little about one employer or one role.

Source: Felten, E., Raj, M., & Seamans, R. (2021). Occupational, industry, and geographic exposure to artificial intelligence: A novel dataset and its potential uses. Strategic Management Journal, 42(12), 2195-2217. Matched to this page by 6-digit SOC code (29-2055).

Is it a fit for you?

Interest is one input, alongside ability, pay and what is hiring near you. The career interests test takes about thirteen minutes and ranks occupations by how closely their profile matches yours.

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