Surgeon's assistant

Surgical assistants are highly skilled, credentialed surgical health professionals who work under the direction of licensed surgeons performing surgical procedures. Surgical assistants are surgical practitioners working exclusively within the surgical care team environment as described by the American College of Surgeons. The surgeon's assistants also known as: assistant surgeon,surgical physician assistant, or registered nurse first assistant perform a specialized role during the surgical procedure. In the US the National Uniform Claims Committee has a taxonomy classification for surgical assistants.

The surgical assistant's role is carried out by surgical practitioners who are: doctors of medicine, nurses specialized in perioperative nursing who have completed registered nurse first assistant programs, surgical physician assistants and surgical assistants which are certified, licensed or registered. Surgical assistants are trained in surgery and undergo rigorous credentialing to practice in that role. The healthcare professionals practicing as surgical assistants varies internationally and each country has legal requirements for the scope of practice for the surgical assistants. Surgical assistance is the practicing specialty of surgical assistants in clinical roles in the United States. In large complicated surgical cases there can be two surgical assistants during the surgical procedure one acting as a first surgical assistant and the other as a second surgical assistant.