Jobs / Healthcare / 29-9093.00
Surgical Assistants
Assist in operations, under the supervision of surgeons. May, in accordance with state laws, help surgeons to make incisions and close surgical sites, manipulate or remove tissues, implant surgical devices or drains, suction the surgical site, place catheters, clamp or cauterize vessels or tissue, and apply dressings to surgical site.
- US jobs
- 22,270
- Median wage
- $66,800 a year
- Job family
- Healthcare
Can agents do the work of surgical assistants?
We read the evidence at the level of the job family, Healthcare:
- Task levelPartialOne benchmark, from early 2025. On Stanford's MedAgentBench, where agents do clinical tasks in a simulated electronic health record, the best recorded model completes 69.7% of tasks (Claude 3.5 Sonnet v2). It has no maintained leaderboard, so newer models are not measured. No benchmark in our collection tests work with patients.
- Project levelPartialOnly adjacent evidence. GDPval includes nurses among its 44 occupations. OpenAI reports that GPT-5.5's deliverables won or tied against professionals' work in 84.9% of comparisons across all occupations. No benchmark in our collection tests clinical work over days, such as managing a patient's care.
Benchmarks for the job family
These cover work in healthcare, not always this occupation's tasks.
- 1846 EloClaude Opus 5.5 (Adaptive Reasoning, Max Effort, Default Fallback) · 23 Sep 2026Unrated
Typical tasks
From O*NET 31.0. Core tasks first. Few of these tasks have a benchmark today.
- Monitor and maintain aseptic technique throughout procedures.
- Maintain an unobstructed operative field, using surgical retractors, sponges, or suctioning and irrigating equipment.
- Pass instruments or supplies to surgeon during procedure.
- Assist with patient resuscitation during cardiac arrest or other life-threatening events.
- Verify the identity of patient or operative site.
- Obtain or inspect sterile or non-sterile surgical equipment, instruments, or supplies.
- Assist members of surgical team with gowning or gloving.
- Cover patients with surgical drapes to create and maintain a sterile operative field.
- Coordinate or participate in the positioning of patients, using body stabilizing equipment or protective padding to provide appropriate exposure for the procedure or to protect against nerve damage or circulation impairment.
- Determine availability of necessary equipment or supplies for operative procedures.
- Gather, arrange, or assemble instruments or supplies.
- Operate sterilizing devices.
Other job titles for this occupation (27)
Certified Surgical Technician (Certified Surgical Tech) · CRNFA (Certified Registered Nurse First Assistant) · CSA (Certified Surgical Assistant) · CSFA (Certified Surgical First Assistant) · GI Technician (Gastrointestinal Technician) · RNFA (Registered Nurse First Assistant) · Scrub Technician (Scrub Tech) · Surgical First Assistant · Surgical Scrub Technician (Surgical Scrub Tech) · Surgical Technician (Surgical Tech) · CFA (Certified First Assistant) · FA (First Assistant) · Med Surg Nursing Assistant (Medical Surgical Nursing Assistant) · Med Surg PCA (Medical Surgical Patient Care Assistant) · Operating Room Technician (OR Tech) · OR Aide (Operating Room Aide) · OR Assistant (Operating Room Assistant) · OR Surgical Tech (Operating Room Surgical Technician) · Oral Surgery Assistant · Perioperative Assistant · Surgery Assistant · Surgery Technician (Surgery Tech) · Surgical Aide · Surgical Dental Assistant · Surgical Medical Assistant · Surgical Services Assistant · Travel RNFA (Travel Registered Nurse First Assistant)