Oral and maxillofacial surgery
Three hours where nothing is difficult and everything is at once
Surgical assisting is not general assisting with more suction. It is a different kind of attention, held for longer, and it is the one specialty where temperament decides more than technique does.
The whole thing happens inside one appointment
And the load on you is nothing like even across it. Scrub through a case, or press play and watch it run.
One case, start to finish
Lower third molar, from the door to the next patient
Access
Retraction and suction, continuously, in a field that has to stay clear and dry. Nothing here is difficult on its own. Doing all of it at once, for as long as it takes, is the job.
We would rather you worked out now that it is not for you
Nobody benefits from a surgical list staffed by somebody who spends the whole morning wishing they were somewhere else. Read both columns honestly.
You will probably love it
- You would rather have three hard hours than seven easy ones
- You are calm when the pace changes without warning
- You like knowing exactly what your job is at any given second
- You do not mind being spoken to briefly on a heavy list
- Blood, bone and swelling are just part of the day to you
You will probably not
- You value long conversations with patients you see for years
- You want a day that looks the same at four as it did at nine
- You would rather build rapport than run a field
- Standing still and holding position for long stretches wears you out
- You are happiest when nothing is urgent
None of this is a judgement. The people in the right column are often superb in ortho or paediatrics, where the qualities that make surgery hard for them are exactly what the chair needs.
What surgical practices are short of
- Surgical assistant
- The chair-side role the list runs on. Retraction, suction, and the sterile field, held for as long as the case takes.
- Recovery and discharge
- Watching people come round, and getting post-operative instruction to land with somebody who will not remember half of it.
- Sterilization technician
- A surgical list turns instruments over faster than any general practice. Bigger practices staff the room on its own for good reason.
- Front office and treatment coordination
- Consults, referrals in from general practices, and the scheduling puzzle of fitting surgical blocks around consult days.
Oral and maxillofacial surgeons are placed through our permanent side rather than as temp cover.
Experience a surgical request can ask for
- Surgical suction and retraction
- Sterile field setup and maintenance
- Instrument counts
- Suture handling
- Post-operative instruction
- Sedation monitoring, where your credentials and jurisdiction allow
You list what you have done and requests reach the people who have listed it. We verify licensing and insurance on temp placements. What your credentials permit you to do on sedation days is set by your jurisdiction, not by us.
What you are actually agreeing to
The rate is set before you claim
Set by category and city and shown up front. You are not negotiating at seven in the morning with an office that has a list to run.
How rates are setOn a temp shift we employ you
Payroll, source deductions and insurance sit with us, not with the surgical practice you are covering that day.
Who employs meYour credentials are verified once
Licensing and insurance are verified for temp placements, so nobody asks you to prove it in the corridor before a list starts.
Verifying your licenceYou are never obliged to take a list
Claim what suits you. Surgical days are long, and nobody should be walking onto one because a schedule pressured them into it.
Claiming and cancellingPut surgical on your profile
Practices running lists need people who have held a field before. Say that you have, and the right days will find you.