{"id":58,"date":"2025-01-17T15:30:41","date_gmt":"2025-01-17T15:30:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sanjac.mycareerfocus.org\/spring-2025-volume-6-issue-1\/helper-mindset-lands-alumna-in-operating-room\/"},"modified":"2025-02-18T19:52:03","modified_gmt":"2025-02-18T19:52:03","slug":"helper-mindset-lands-alumna-in-operating-room","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sanjac.mycareerfocus.org\/spring-2025-volume-6-issue-1\/helper-mindset-lands-alumna-in-operating-room\/","title":{"rendered":"Helper mindset lands alumna in operating room"},"content":{"rendered":"

From childhood, Ashley Arratia pictured one job in her future, and it involved a uniform. Scrubs, to be exact.<\/span><\/p>\n

Shadowing her mom at her hospital job, the 5-year-old would imagine herself as one of the nurses. At home, her Barbie dolls would check each other\u2019s temperatures and give shots.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s all I\u2019ve wanted to do is just help people,\u201d Arratia said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Today she does indeed wear scrubs, but she wound up in a field that suits her even better than nursing.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pandemic pivot<\/span><\/h3>\n
\"Ashley

<\/span> Ashley Arratia<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

In 2020, Arratia had her eyes on San Jacinto College\u2019s nursing program \u2014 that is, until she saw how COVID-19 was straining nurses on the front lines.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI just didn\u2019t have the spark for nursing anymore,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

It was time to pivot, but how? Since the fast-paced operating room had always fascinated her, surgical technology<\/span> seemed a better fit: She could enter the health care field quickly and work alongside surgeons.<\/span><\/p>\n

In August 2022, Arratia started San Jac\u2019s three-semester surgical technology\u202fprogram.<\/span><\/p>\n

Immediately, she learned the importance of maintaining a sterile environment \u2014 from preparing a sterile field for surgery to passing instruments to surgeons.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cA big component of the operating room is sterility,\u201d\u202fshe said. \u201cThat\u2019s probably one of the hardest concepts to grasp: \u2018OK, you can\u2019t touch this, but you can touch this.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Operating room 101<\/span><\/h3>\n

While the program\u2019s instructors and labs laid a solid foundation, Arratia enjoyed putting her skills to the test in hospital clinicals, which began halfway through her first semester.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou get thrown in there really fast, which is a good thing, because I believe in this career you don\u2019t really learn unless you\u2019re hands-on,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the operating room, the biggest challenge Arratia faced was her own self-doubt \u2014 \u201cunderstanding I was new\u202fand it\u2019s going to take time to learn everything.\u201d During her first surgery experience at a teaching hospital, the doctors encouraged her to jump in.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou can do it,\u201d one surgeon told her. \u201cCount the instruments, call out for\u202fsupplies, and be confident\u202fwhile doing so.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite being a scared first-semester student, Arratia felt supported throughout that first clinical.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI definitely had those days where I left bawling because it was hard mentally,\u201d she said. \u201cBut [my clinical instructor Mackinze Goodman Martin] was always there and had such encouraging words every single day.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Lifelong learner<\/span><\/h3>\n

In summer 2023, Arratia was finishing her\u202flast clinical.\u202fWhen she walked inside the Woman\u2019s Hospital of Texas, something clicked.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI loved that place \u2014 the people, the specialties of surgery,\u202fthe management, and the environment,\u201d she said. \u201cEverybody was so willing to teach you, even the doctors.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Before Arratia graduated, the Woman\u2019s Hospital had offered her a job. For the past year, she has been working as a certified surgical technologist there.<\/span><\/p>\n

Each day holds growth opportunities galore \u2014 from\u202fworking with different surgeons to learning different specialties and surgeries.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSurgical\u202ftechnology is an amazing field to go into,\u201d she said. \u201cYou\u2019re constantly learning something new every day.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

After three or four years, she hopes to train for the next step: becoming a surgical first assistant.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mission accomplished<\/span><\/h3>\n

Arratia went into surgical technology hoping for a less demanding role than nursing, but she hasn\u2019t escaped the go-go-go pace. She might be on her feet for an entire 10-hour shift with barely time to sip water or munch on chips.<\/span><\/p>\n

In those moments, she remembers why she pursued this field \u2014 to help people.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to take such good care of you,\u201d she says, smiling and squeezing a patient\u2019s hand before surgery.<\/span><\/p>\n

Some patients say \u201cthank you\u201d or smile back before drifting off under anesthesia. Then the hard work begins.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe most rewarding part of the job is knowing you\u2019re helping the patients,\u201d she said. \u201cYou\u2019re able to be a part of fixing something that\u2019s wrong with them.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Learn more about the surgical technology program<\/a><\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

By Courtney Morris<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From childhood, Ashley Arratia pictured one job in her future, and it involved a uniform. Scrubs, to be exact. Shadowing her mom at her hospital job, the 5-year-old would imagine herself as one of the nurses. At home, her Barbie dolls would check each other\u2019s temperatures and give shots. \u201cThat\u2019s all I\u2019ve wanted to do… read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":99,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,11,1],"tags":[],"article_type":[],"class_list":["post-58","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spotlights","category-surgical-technology","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nHelper mindset lands alumna in operating room - Spring 2025, Volume 6 \u2013 Issue 1<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sanjac.mycareerfocus.org\/spring-2025-volume-6-issue-1\/helper-mindset-lands-alumna-in-operating-room\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Helper mindset lands alumna in operating room\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"From childhood, Ashley Arratia pictured one job in her future, and it involved a uniform. Scrubs, to be exact. Shadowing her mom at her hospital job, the 5-year-old would imagine herself as one of the nurses. 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