Surgical technology students at Flathead Valley Community College will begin their next term using technology designed to make their education more complete.

Thanks to a $4,500 grant from the FVCC Foundation, students in the surgical technology program will use Google Glass and ancillary accessories to record and improve their performances.

Google Glass — “smart eyewear” that allows users to open computer applications, take pictures and even live-stream video — will be used by the aspiring surgical technologists to critique practice work.

Rob Blackston, the program director, said the technology will allow students to improve their performances on the spot.

“One thing that’s really helpful for other students is the ability to critique their own performance,” he said. “They will record themselves practicing skills or putting on scrubs and review their performance.”

A surgical technologist or “scrub tech” is an important member of a surgical team who has detailed knowledge in sterile and aseptic techniques in an operating or delivery room.

Essentially, they keep the room, the doctors and nurses and the equipment clean and sterile to avoid the risk of spreading infection or contaminants.  

“Our profession assists in surgeries,” Blackston said. “We are the caretakers of the sterile field. You can’t touch your face or touch anything that is not sterile in the operating room.”

Because of this, the exact motions of students are closely watched. Should one touch something not sterile, it could lead to complications for a patient.

Besides the actual usefulness of the technology, Blackston said he was looking forward to the eyewear for other reasons.

“I get to play around with it,” he said. “How am I going to teach students how to use it when I don’t know how it works?”

The surgical technology program is a small program, allowing only seven students in each year for the two-year program. Graduates leave with an Associate of Applied Science degree and are ready for immediate work in the medical field. The majority go to hospitals, but other clinics also use surgical technologists.

Along with the Google Glass, Blackston’s program uses other Google suite technologies, including Google+ and Google Drive. Blackston said he believes the collaboration can streamline the education and professional interaction of his students.

For him, the wave of new technologies being used (even in a field with the word technology smack in the middle of it) is unprecedented. 

“When I started, we didn’t have access to this type of technology,” Blackston said. “It’s increasing to the point where it’s hard to keep up.”

The surgical technology students use new facilities in the Rebecca Chaney Broussard Center for Nursing and Health Science. The program has a small lecture room and a larger clinical room where students can practice techniques in two connected “operating rooms” with medical dummies.

The grant, part of FVCC’s Foundation Enhancement Grants, was a portion of $27,000 given out to several programs in November.

The enhancement grants are meant to provide resources for new, innovative and entrepreneurial ideas on Flathead Valley Community College’s campus.

Other grant money was given to create a Center for Business Information and Research, a “BioBlitz” in conjunction with Glacier High School, an internship program for manufacturing management students and FVCC’s Vocal Jazz Ensemble.

Reporter Ryan Murray may be reached at 758-4436 or by email at rmurray@dailyinterlake.com.