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Certified Surgical First Assistant® — Requirements & Free Practice

US · License preparation

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Certified Surgical First Assistant®

Professional certification demonstrating the national standard of knowledge for surgical first assistant practice.

Licensing authority: National Board of Surgical Technology and Surgical Assisting · Application information

Initial by examination
Surgical First Assistant Certifying Examination
Applicant Qualification
Completion of a CAAHEP-accredited Surgical First Assistant program remains the education qualification for certification. Initial applicants include graduates and the documented pre-graduate examination population; completion and proof of graduation are not uniform prerequisites to approval, ATT issuance or sitting the examination.
Certification Requirement
Pass the single CSFA examination and satisfy the applicable graduation-documentation requirement; the handbook assigns CST and CSFA examinations to their respective credentials, not an anyOf choice for CSFA.
Eligibility And Scheduling
Submit the application, applicable fees and documentation appropriate to graduate or pre-graduate status for NBSTSA's eligibility decision. The application provides a Pre-grad application (not testing on campus) option. All pre-graduate examination applicants must sign the prescribed statement requiring proof of graduation to NBSTSA within 60 days of the actual examination date before results are released; failure to provide proof invalidates results and forfeits all examination fees. Approved candidates receive an ATT and arrange the individual PSI appointment using its instructions. The general graduate eligibility wording describes the education qualification, while the specific application statement establishes the pre-graduate testing and later-proof timing alternative.
Scope
Initial accredited-program education route, including the documented pre-graduate application for individual off-campus testing. Current or previously certified CSFAs are an existing-certificant population outside this initial-only investigation. No separate prerequisite CST examination is established. Route validFrom and validThrough remain null because no route adoption boundaries are published in these sources; the outline effective date does not establish the route start.

Surgical First Assistant Certifying Examination

Exam questions
Total questions: 175; Scored questions: 150; Unscored questions: 25; The total includes the scored and unscored questions.
Examination outline
  • Perioperative Care (55%)
    • Preoperative Preparation
    • Intraoperative Procedures
    • Postoperative Procedures
  • Ancillary Duties (14%)
    • Administrative and Personnel
    • Equipment Sterilization and Maintenance
  • Advanced Science (31%)
    • Advanced Anatomy and Physiology
    • Advanced Principles Of Microbiology
    • Surgical Pharmacology and Anesthesia
Examination sources