What the work involves, what it pays, and grounded tasks, skills, tools, and experience you can choose from.
Also called certified first assistant, CFA, certified nursing assistant and CNA.
$66,800
Median pay a year
22,270
People do this work
6
Resume lines ready for you
Real figures for this work, and lines you can use in your own resume. Where they come from is at the foot of this page.
An example
A Surgical Assistant resume, filled in
Common skills that can help you remember what you used on the job.
Assisting during surgery
Maintaining sterile fields
Operating on patients
Operating medical instruments
Applying splints
Monitoring patient progress
Monitoring post-surgery patients
Monitoring activities
Examining medical instruments
Assessing skin and hair conditions
Verifying patient information accuracy
Protecting patients and staff
Every line comes from the same public record as the rest of this page. The greyed parts are the ones only you can answer.
Surgical Assistant
Summary
Surgical assistant supporting surgeons during operations by verifying patient identity, maintaining aseptic technique, positioning patients, and managing the operative field while passing instruments and applying dressings
Experience
Surgical Assistant
Where you worked
Month Year to Month Year
Verified the identity of patients and operative sites before procedures
Monitored and maintained aseptic technique throughout surgical procedures
Covered patients with surgical drapes to create and maintain a sterile operative field
Coordinated the positioning of patients using body stabilizing equipment to ensure appropriate exposure
Maintained an unobstructed operative field using surgical retractors, sponges, and suctioning equipment
Prepared and applied sterile wound dressings following surgical procedures
Passed instruments and supplies to the surgeon during procedures
Skills
Working With People
Assisting during surgery, Maintaining sterile fields, Operating on patients, Applying splints
Examining medical instruments, Assessing skin and hair conditions
Education
Certificate Your training program, Year
Yours will not say this. You choose what matches your experience, and every line remains yours to confirm or change.
Nothing to write from scratch
What to put on a Surgical Assistant resume
Real duties for this job, already written the way a resume reads. Inside Rung you choose the ones that were yours.
What did you do each day?
Choose what fits, or say your own.
Verified patient identity and operative siteMonitored aseptic technique during proceduresCovered patients with surgical drapesCoordinated patient positioning for proceduresMaintained unobstructed operative fieldPrepared and applied sterile wound dressings
becomes
On your resume
Verified patient identity and operative site to ensure safety and compliance with surgical protocols
Covered patients with surgical drapes, maintaining a sterile operative field throughout procedures
These are written the way a resume line reads. Rung asks which ones are actually yours, keeps your own words, and never claims work you did not do.
Then it asks for one more thing
The line that could show more, and the fact that lands it.
Make it stronger
A few lines could show more. Each one is asked, and answered by choosing.
Add how often you verified patient identity and site.
The line
Verified patient identity and operative site for every procedure I assisted with to ensure safety and compliance with surgical protocols
Add how often you verified patient identity and site.
Pick one that fits
Every procedure I assisted withFor each patient I worked withAt the start of every surgery
Or add your own.
In your wordsAdd it
Adding it to the line…
Added to your resume
Show what improved because you maintained the sterile field.
The line
Covered patients with surgical drapes, maintaining a sterile operative field throughout procedures
Show what improved because you maintained the sterile field.
Pick one that fits
Reduced risk of infection during surgeriesHelped ensure smooth surgical operationsKept the environment safe for patients
Or add your own.
In your wordsAdd it
Adding it to the line…
Added to your resume
Every ready answer is in plain words, never a figure. Nothing is invented to fill a gap.
The work itself
What a Surgical Assistant does
The public record of what this job is, in one paragraph.
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.
What it pays
How much does a Surgical Assistant make?
Annual pay across the United States. The middle figure is the median: half earn less than that, and half earn more.
25th percentile
$50,170
Median
$66,800
75th percentile
$88,010
About 22,270 people do this work in the United States.
What it pays in each state
State
25th percentile
Median
75th percentile
AK
$60,400
$61,210
$75,510
AL
$37,910
$41,710
$45,900
AR
$36,800
$49,600
$78,790
AZ
$50,590
$111,170
$132,730
CA
$59,630
$62,540
$72,030
CO
$104,820
$107,440
$125,260
CT
$52,250
$67,580
$89,590
DC
$71,200
$123,390
$145,780
FL
$51,420
$62,550
$89,560
GA
$43,740
$49,520
$65,450
HI
$54,190
$54,190
$95,520
IA
$55,280
$66,030
$66,660
ID
$51,690
$56,460
$60,240
IL
$80,210
$80,210
$80,210
IN
$44,670
$56,620
$75,650
KS
$44,320
$57,810
$69,770
KY
$55,300
$84,600
$115,030
MA
$51,650
$56,430
$58,370
MD
$49,620
$58,130
$86,580
MI
$37,960
$56,430
$81,110
MN
$67,080
$75,950
$89,950
MO
$47,330
$49,400
$60,580
MS
$39,910
$50,810
$61,820
MT
$56,610
$67,370
$85,810
NC
$49,520
$59,920
$67,210
NE
$47,010
$53,190
$75,410
NH
$62,300
$77,670
$119,750
NJ
$64,140
$90,710
$143,490
NM
$46,870
$62,010
$69,040
NV
$85,130
$100,820
$114,380
NY
$54,440
$60,070
$63,730
OH
$48,120
$77,450
$99,380
OK
$38,590
$40,160
$70,640
OR
$72,640
$80,450
$108,710
PA
$50,410
$60,550
$83,570
PR
$23,670
$30,160
$31,630
RI
$61,900
$61,900
$67,440
SC
$50,630
$85,580
$108,200
TN
$73,000
$81,640
$96,720
TX
$43,370
$64,930
$94,730
UT
$36,320
$44,990
$50,980
VA
$51,030
$78,910
$103,860
WA
$53,460
$65,440
$86,890
WI
$61,760
$78,030
$95,730
WV
$48,200
$50,870
$63,740
Other names
Other names for this job
certified first assistant, CFA, certified nursing assistant, CNA, certified registered nurse first assistant, CRNFA, certified surgical assistant, CSA, certified surgical first assistant, CSFA, clinical assistant, first assistant.
More names for this work
medical surgical nursing assistant, medical surgical patient care assistant, operating room assistant, oral surgery assistant, perioperative assistant, registered nurse first assistant, RNFA, surgery assistant, surgical assistant certified, surgical dental assistant, surgical first assistant, surgical medical assistant, surgical services assistant, certified surgical technician, gastrointestinal technician, gi technician, med surg pca, operating room aide, operating room surgical technician, operating room technician, or aide, or surgical tech, sa c, surgery technician, surgical aide, surgical scrub tech, surgical scrub technician, surgical tech, surgical technician.
What you can already claim
Starting a Surgical Assistant resume with no experience
Below are the tasks a Surgical Assistant job is made of. Choose the ones you have really done. There is no wrong answer here, and you can change any of it later.
Which of these tasks have you actually done?
4 chosen. Rung never adds a task you did not choose.
Surgical Assistant
Already yours: Assisting during surgery, Maintaining sterile fields, Operating medical instruments
4 of the 12 tasks this job is made of
Median pay
$66,800 a year
What you have not done yet. Operating on patients, Applying splints, Monitoring patient progress
This page is about the occupation Surgical Assistants. What this job involves and what it is made of come from O*NET 30.3, the US Department of Labor's occupation database, refreshed July 2026; Rung writes those records into the plain sentences you see. Pay comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS release for 2025. How Rung handles accuracy is on the accuracy page, and the full data credits are on the credits page.