The Challenge
Central Maine Healthcare is a non-profit healthcare system serving 400,000+ residents in central, western and mid-coast Maine. In 2024, their Central Maine Medical Center (CMMC) location – a 250-bed Trauma Center located in Lewiston, was facing an allied healthcare shortage. Their staffing mix for surgical technologists was about 80% travelers and 20% full-time staff, due to limited options for training surgical technologists locally. There were only two surgical technologist training programs in all of Maine, and both were far away and structured as 2-year programs.
For local healthcare workers interested in becoming surgical technologists, participating in those programs wasn’t usually possible. It would mean stepping away from work to train and long commutes to, oftentimes, unpaid programs over multiple years.
CMMC needed to find a more sustainable and cost-effective solution to their surgical technologist shortage. They were looking for an educational option that could train talent locally and effectively in a shorter period of time.
The Solution
Central Maine Healthcare teamed up with MedCerts Partner Solutions to create an in-house Earn-to-Learn Surgical Technologist training program at CMMC. By combining MedCerts online certification training with the clinical requirements on-site, CMMC found a way to address the lack of local training options and create a sustainable earn-and-learn pipeline.
By using an upskilling opportunity for existing staff rather than an external recruitment effort, the initial cohort drew seven internal applicants, who had been working at CMMC for at least one year. Two participants were initially chosen, while five additional students have been enrolled in subsequent cohorts. Participants chosen included existing staff from lab services, surgical scheduling and patient services.
Program participants were paid during the training process, which started with six weeks of classroom training, including online MedCerts courses, integrated simulated training and hands-on skills without patients. With classroom training continuing, after the initial six weeks, learners began scrubbing in and interacting with real patients in the OR, assisting with trays and patient movement. Learners combined classroom instruction along with OR rotations through service lines for about 8 months.
Upon passing their Online Tech in Surgery (NCCT TS-C) certification exam from the National Center for Competency Testing (NCCT), students received a raise and began their new careers as certified surgical technologists.
The Results
100% of Participants Graduated
During the first three cohorts, 7 learners enrolled – all graduated and became surgical technologists at CMMC. Of those four students, all also passed their certification exam on the first attempt.
100% Retention Rate
A year after graduating from the training program, all 7 graduates of the MedCerts surgical technologists training program still work at one of CMMC’s three hospitals. That includes a surgical technologist who is continuing her education to become a Certified Surgical First Assistant (CSFA).
A Significant Reduction In Travelers
CMMC now only employs 2 traveling surgical technologists, down from 80% of their surgical technologists before using MedCerts Partner Solutions.
Job-Ready More Than 50% Faster
Graduates of the CMMC surgical technologists training program went from entry into the program to being fully trained and working in the OR in about nine months. In contrast, the two fully in-person surgical technologist training programs in Maine take 2 years to complete.
Creating Economic Opportunity
Lewiston, Maine, has a poverty level of 20% and one of the lowest median household incomes in the state. CMMC’s surgical technologist training program creates an opportunity for upward career mobility, fast-tracking hospital employees into critical roles, without requiring unpaid schooling or long commutes. In an economically depressed community, this type of workforce growth can be life-changing for learners, enabling CMMC to strengthen the community while addressing a key need.
The Larger Staffing Challenge
In the 2022 American College of Healthcare Executives survey of CEOs, 83% cited a shortage of technicians, including surgical technologists, as a workplace challenge. There are 141,000 surgical assistant jobs in the United States, and an average of 8,700 openings for surgical assistants and technologists per year. As with all specialized professions, the relative shortage of qualified workers means that when there is staff turnover, it can be disproportionately hard to fill those vacancies without a pipeline to train new talent.
Traveler Costs Can Add Up
According to Glassdoor, the median total pay of surgical technologists in Maine is $67K per year, while the median total pay for traveling surgical technologists is $119K per year. Additional costs spent on travelers include housing stipends, travel allowances, signing bonuses and potentially tax-free per diems. It can be significantly cheaper to train surgical technologists than to rely on contract labor.
