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Gearing Up for Clinicals

Florence Campus surgical technology student Rebecca Ballman is past the halfway point in her program and preparing for her clinical externship, the final step in her program. It’s an exciting time for any surgical technology student, and one she is looking forward to.

“It’s fun…it’s not as scary as I would have expected it to be,” she says of her challenging program. “I think that has a lot to do with the people.” Rebecca singles out her program director, Dalla Woodrome, as someone who makes the students feel part of the National College family. “You can pretty much talk to Dalla about anything, and she’ll listen to you.”

“It’s fun… I think that has a lot to do with the people.”

That’s especially important for the challenging coursework involved in surgical technology. Courses like SRG 102–Pathophysiology & Patient Care Concepts–can be as tough to learn as they are to pronounce! “You have to know it all,” Rebecca says of the course which focuses on disease. “You have to know where [each disease] comes from, what the symptoms are, how to diagnose it, treatments, prognosis…a lot.”

So why is a stay-at-home mom pursuing the challenge of a degree in surgical technology? “I like [the medical field], but I thought nursing would be kind of boring,” she admits with a chuckle. “I just think surgery is more interesting.”