Certification for nonphysician surgical assistants is available through the National Board of Surgical Technology and Surgical Assisting (NBSTSA). Information on prerequisites and requirements for eligibility for the certification examination are available at www.nbstsa.org.

The Association of Surgical Assistants supports graduation from a CAAHEP accredited program in surgical assisting and holding the Certified First Assistant credential as prerequisite to work as a surgical assistant in the United States. To that end, we have supported legislation that requires this (more information here).

NBSTSA CFA Certification Examination

Determing the Value of Surgical Assisting Certification Credentials

Fee Change for Certification Renewal By Examination

Determining the Value of Surgical Assisting Certification Credentials

As of today, the total number of Certified Registered Nurse First Assistants (CRNFAs) (excluding the Registered Nurse First Assistants) is 1,621. The total number
of physician assistants working in surgery (some in the O.R. but most in surgical practices) is reported by the American Association of Physician Assistants (AAPA) to be approximately 10,000.

In the last ASA News, we reported that the National Board of Surgical Technology and Surgical Assisting (NBSTSA) estimates that there are 1,425 Certified
First Assistants (CFAs); the American Board of Surgical Assisting (ABSA) estimates there are 948 Surgical Assistants-Certified (SA-Cs); and the National Surgical Assistants Association (NSAA) reports 805 CSAs. We believe the total overall number of surgical
assistants (NBSTSA, ABSA and NSAA) is 3,178. When considering another 800 CSTs who report that they are surgical assistants, the total is closer to 4,000.

Obviously, there are several different types of credentials related to surgical assisting and it would be worthwhile to differentiate them and determine what is genuinely valuable to the profession and the patient.

Excluding nursing and physician assistants, there are five certifying bodies that award some type of official recognition for the role of surgical assisting. Each sets its own standards and administers its own examination.

The result is chaos because there are no uniform standards and no national standard exam that is universally recognized. Consequently, the confusion on the legislative front is harming the long-term goals for recognition and reimbursement.

You can judge a person by the company he or she keeps, and the same is true about certifying organizations. There is one critical fact that distinguishes a genuinely valuable credential from the token awards offered by those companies that are more interested in marketing than benefiting a profession.

The National Organization for Competency Assurance (NOCA) is a national membership organization for agencies engaged in the field of certification. Almost any company can become a NOCA member by paying dues but the true distinction extends beyond
a dues payment and instead relates to the achievement of accreditation awarded by NOCA’s National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA). The mission of the NCCA is to help ensure the health, welfare, and safety of the public through the accreditation of a variety of certification programs/organizations that assess professional competency.2

Only 50 certifying bodies have been accredited and have met the national standards. These organizations include the National Board for Respiratory Care, American Academy of Nurse Practitioners, Competency and Credentialing Institute , Council on Certification on Nurse Anesthetists and, most importantly, AST and the NBSTSA. And that’s one of the most important distinctions because NCCA accreditation separates the CFA exam apart from all other seeming competitors. Simply put, the CFA credential is in a class by itself, and has set the standard, which others are not able to meet.

Other affiliations that place the NBSTSA ahead of any other agencies include the prestigious Chauncey Group and Prometric. The former assists in the development of the certifying examination and is a division of Educational Testing Service (ETS), the
company that owns and administers the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and the Graduate Record Exam (GRE). Prometric is a division of Thomson Learning and provides the computer-based testing facilities utilized by the NBSTSA and the Chauncey Group.

Again, like the surgical assisting education programs, there is a climate of confusion about certification titles that has been deliberately fostered by some organizations that are more interested in advancing their bottom line, rather than advancing the profession.

As a continuing commitment to enhance the quality of patient care, AST has turned its efforts to state legislative arenas and sponsored legislation that requires NBSTSA certification as a condition of employment. At this time, NBSTSA certification is the most widely accepted credential, and AST supports the universal requirement that all surgical assistants and surgical technologists be certified by the NBSTSA.

2. www.noca.org/ncca/nccavision.htm (accessed 2/1/2006)

NBSTSA Announces Fee Change for Renewal of Certification By Examination

The Board of Directors for the NBSTSA recently voted to amend the fees for renewal of certification by examination.

Effective June 1, 2006, the new fee will be $550 for the CFA certification renewal exam. Fees for initial certification by examination are not affected by this change.

The NBSTSA believes that renewal for certification for the practice of surgical assisting should be achieved through professional development, as offered through nationally accepted continuing education components specific to the profession. A dynamic technological field, such as surgical assisting, requires that the practitioner constantly update the skills required for proper patient care.

The NBSTSA believes that this philosophy for recertification helps to increase patient safety through the encouragement of professional development for proper intraoperative patient care. The NBSTSA works closely with AST to ensure that continuing education components for certificants are effective and current.