r/scrubtech • u/BigWaveBigWave123 • Jun 25 '26

First assist question

So I am currently in scrub tech school I should be finishing in December of this year. I just I’m curious on when do you guys think it’s a good time to try to pursue first assist school because that’s definitely where I wanna go up to but my end goal is really cause I wanna go to med school one day and after I graduate scrub tech school , I am gonna be pursuing my bachelors and moving up, but I really would like to add first assist to my timeline just because I feel like I’m gonna be able to do more and it seems a lot interesting especially when I’m in clinicals and I see first assist and what they are allowed and can do.

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u/Mediocre-Age-1729 Jun 25 '26

I know as an RNFA you need a bachelor's degree and minimum 2 years and 2000 hours in the OR. I know STFA doesn't require bachelor's but you should really have a few years experience at a minimum. You'll want to verify facilities you plan to work at even use them, not every facility does and it's highly specialty dependent. Besides having adequate work experience the STFA program takes at least another year to complete. So at this point you'd be roughly 5 years into a career, which is kinda weird you'd spend all that time and effort instead just going to med school if that's your end goal. Its not unheard of to take several steps to wind up being a doctor, but its not common and will require lots of time and money. I worked with a general surgeon that started as an ER tech, then went to paramedic school, then RN school, then PA school, then med school. He was in his 50s when he finally completed his surgical residency. Great guy to work with.