Surgical Technologist - Duke Health Cary

Job description

Duke Health Cary: Opening in Spring 2027, the next phase of this 85-acre, mixed use walkable Duke Health Cary campus will add emergency services, inpatient care, surgical services, imaging, specialty care, and infusion services, creating more than 230 career opportunities. Joining Duke Health Cary offers the opportunity to build something new, grow your career, and support our mission of advancing health across the communities we serve.
Duke Health Cary Surgery Center
Duke Health is seeking experienced, high-performing perioperative professionals to join the founding team of the new Duke Health Cary Surgery Center , a state-of-the-art ambulatory surgery center opening in 2027. This unique opportunity allows team members to help build a culture of excellence, innovation, flexibility, and patient-centered care from the ground up. The center will feature six operating/procedure rooms, including advanced robotic surgery capabilities with two da Vinci surgical systems, and will provide outpatient surgical services across multiple specialties, including urology, plastic surgery, breast oncology, general surgery, gynecology, ENT, and pediatric urology, ENT, and orthopedic procedures.
Who We Are Looking For
We are seeking team members who:
• Have a minimum of two years of ambulatory or outpatient surgical experience
• Thrive in a fast-paced, highly collaborative environment
• Embrace flexibility in scheduling and work assignments
• Demonstrate accountability, reliability, and professionalism
• Are committed to continuous learning and cross-training
• Think innovatively and contribute ideas that improve quality, safety, efficiency, and patient experience
• Enjoy helping build new programs and serving as change agents
• Are passionate about delivering exceptional patient care

Our Culture
At Duke Health Cary Surgery Center, every team member will be expected to:
• Put patients first in every decision
• Work collaboratively as one team across the perioperative continuum
• Support staffing flexibility and operational excellence
• Maintain competencies across multiple clinical workflows and settings
• Practice lean principles and continuous improvement
• Embrace innovation and new technology
• Demonstrate operational awareness and ownership of center performance
• Foster a culture of respect, belonging, accountability, and psychological safety
• Take pride in building one of the region's most advanced ambulatory surgery centers from day one

The team is expected to be flexible, accountable, innovative, patient-focused, and committed to continuous learning and operational excellence. Staff will support cross-functional teamwork, embrace change, and help create a high-performing surgery center culture.
Planned Start Dates
• Employee start-dates: February 8 or 22, 2027
• First patient scheduled: Early April 2027

Join us in building the future of ambulatory surgery at Duke Health Cary.
Hiring Incentives
• $10,000 Commitment Bonus for eligible Surgical Technologists - Paid in four equal installments over 24 months (every six months).
• Relocation assistance up to $3,000 available for Surgical Technologists relocating greater than 50 miles to Cary, NC.

General Description of the Job Class
• Surgical Technologists (ST) are allied health professionals who assist in the preparation and care of surgical patients ranging from infancy to geriatrics under the general direction of a professional nurse.
• The ST possesses expertise in the theory and application of sterile aseptic technique and combines the knowledge of human anatomy, surgical procedures, and implementation tools and technologies to facilitate a surgeon's performance of invasive therapeutic and diagnostic procedures.
• The ST who has a dual function in the operating room and the ambulatory setting demonstrates competency in the care of surgical patients preoperatively and postoperatively in the ambulatory surgical clinic setting.

Duties and Responsibilities of this Level
Level I - New graduate with up to 18 months of full-time equivalent experience.
• Perform all responsibilities in a manner that demonstrates Service Excellence towards patients, physicians, peers and other departments.
• Assume responsibility for upholding the policies and procedures of the department and organization.
• Demonstrates eagerness to learn, takes direction, adapts to changes within unit, demonstrates consistent progress toward Level II.
• Establishes and maintains sterile field and assures team maintains sterile environment.
• Demonstrate and practice a good understanding of sterile technique.
• Has a basic knowledge of instrumentations.
• Prepare Operating Room with appropriate instrumentation, equipment and supplies.
• Demonstrates correct and safe instrumentation passing and performs sponge, needle and instrument counts in a safe and accurate manner.
• Maintain technical skills to serve a patient population comprised of infancy to geriatric clients.
• Take calls and rotate shifts as required under the direction of a registered nurse.
• For Surgical Technologists with a dual role in an ambulatory environment, additional responsibilities may include: prepare patients for examinations and procedures in the surgical clinic setting; assist the physician during patient examination and procedures in the clinic; collect and label laboratory specimens for processing; reinforce postoperative instructions under direction of physician or RN; assist with incoming and outgoing patient calls under supervision of physician or RN; remove sutures/ staples, change sterile and non-sterile dressings, following DUHS policies and procedures, under direction of RN or physician; perform other clinical functions as delegated and supervised by the RN or physician; schedule and post surgical cases; coordinate complex scheduling of cases which require additional surgical support; update and file patient medical records.
• Must advance to level II within 18 months.
• Perform other duties and responsibilities as required.

Level II - Perform all the duties and responsibilities of Level I, plus the following:
• Assist with the teaching of newly hired technologists and student technologists.
• Serve as a role model to new employees and other staff members.
• Establish and maintain sterile field and assure team maintains sterile environment independently.
• Anticipate the needs of the surgical team.
• Apply basic knowledge of instrumentations to several cases.
• Demonstrate appropriate and correct case preparation.
• Competent at unit level.
• Corrects deficiencies at the case level.
• Communicate effectively with patients, staff members and physicians.
• Adherence to standards including but not limited to unit and hospital policies and procedures, regulatory standards, and patient safety goals.
• Assume responsibility for self and ensures that the policies, procedures and safety practices of the Operating Room and Hospital are reinforced.
• Perform other duties and responsibilities as required.

Required Qualifications at this Level
Education
• Graduate of an accredited Surgical Technology program or maintains an accredited Surgical Technologist certification (NCCT or NBSTSA).
• Or, provides evidence of the successful completion of an appropriate training program for Surgical Technology in the United States Military.

Experience
• Level I- Entry level position for new graduates of Surgical Technology program or Surgical Technologists with 0 to 18 months experience.
• Level II- Requires 6 to 12 months of full-time equivalent Surgical Technology or relevant military experience.

Degrees, Licensure, and/or Certification
• Level I- BLS required.
• Level II- BLS required.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities
• Ability to adapt to changes within unit.
• Ability to work effectively and efficiently under pressure in a stressful environment, and often without relief.
• Ability to demonstrate knowledge of anatomy relating to the surgical procedure and the instrumentation required in order to effectively anticipate the needs of the surgeon.
• Ability to set priorities and respond appropriately to actual and/or potential life threatening situations.

Duke is an Equal Opportunity Employer committed to providing employment opportunity without regard to an individual's age, color, disability, gender, gender expression, gender identity, genetic information, national origin, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy and pregnancy related conditions), sexual orientation or military status.
Duke aspires to create a community built on collaboration, innovation, creativity, and belonging. Our collective success depends on the robust exchange of ideas—an exchange that is best when the rich diversity of our perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences flourishes. To achieve this exchange, it is essential that all members of the community feel secure and welcome, that the contributions of all individuals are respected, and that all voices are heard. All members of our community have a responsibility to uphold these values.
Essential Physical Job Functions:
Certain jobs at Duke University and Duke University Health System may include essential job functions that require specific physical and/or mental abilities. Additional information and provision for requests for reasonable accommodation will be provided by each hiring department.