Recent News about Surgical Technology Students

Oklahoma Students and Educators ... On "The Cutting Edge" of Legislative Activities

(Thank you to Dana Miles, CST, for submitting the photo and article)

The state of Oklahoma isn’t known as “cutting edge” in too many areas. However, surgical technologists in our state would like to see that change, at least in the area of quality health care.

For several years now, our surgical technology students have joined forces with the Oklahoma State Assembly to try to make legislation happen. We feel strongly that patient safety in the O.R. needs to be a priority in Oklahoma.

On Tuesday, February 19, 2008, approximately 85 students and 11 instructors from seven different surgical technology programs rallied at the State Capitol to meet and greet our legislators.

Everyone had fact sheets to hand out and information to give. And, as is usually the case, many of our officials were surprised to learn the truth. Many of them wanted to learn more, and many voiced their support of our efforts right there in the halls.

It was a huge success!

Something else was a huge success, too: the power that a group has when everyone comes together as one voice, instead of many individual ones.

We had seven programs represented from around the state: Canadian Valley Technology Center, Community Care College, Metro Tech, Moore Norman Technology Center, Oklahoma Health Academy, Platt College-Oklahoma City, and Tulsa Technology Center.

It was exciting to see so many schools working together toward a common cause. It was a productive day for us all!

Dana Miles, CST

President, Oklahoma State Assembly

Surgical Technology Instructor, Moore Norman Technology Center