I started my surgical technician course at Lincoln tech on July 7, 2009. The weekly test given in the A&P course was a joke. On Mondays we were given ALL the test questions on an "exercise" sheet, answered them as a group and were told to study them for the test. Basically, you memorized every answer you got an A.
Then I started the actual surgical tech class which was supposed to be from 8am to 1:15 Monday thru Thursday, always out by 12pm and MANY cigarette breaks cut our learning time in half.
Then 2 of my classmates and me were sent out for our externship. Our teacher warned us that men were more respected as surgical techs than women which should have sent up red flags for us. We were sent to a hospital that had a slow surgical unit. For the first week, the director of the surgical unit left us 3 standing in the hallway, wouldn’t answer any questions or give us any type of direction on what to do and they wouldn't let us into surgery.
It took a month and a half to get into my first surgery. After that, I spent most of my time pulling cases because no one wanted to let us scrub any cases. Mind you, to graduate you need 150 surgeries as first scrub.
All 3 of us complained to the teacher and to the director in charge of externship that we weren't getting any cases and were being ignored. We expressed concern that with out the required amount of cases how would we graduate? We were told not to worry about it.
At the end of my 4 month externship, I had less than 20 surgeries as second scrub, 0 as first scrub. The school graduated me anyway on June 16, 2010 and on my paperwork for my certification my teacher put that I had completed 159 surgeries as first scrub, 9 being neurosurgery which wasn't even done at the hospital I was interning at. This school has no concern that they're sending under educated people into operating rooms, would you want me helping in surgery if it was you or a loved one on the table? I wouldn't.
I have been unable to find employment. When potential employers hear I went to Lincoln Technical Institute, they snicker and I don't get a call back.
I'm currently seeking legal representation to sue for my tuition and the interest it's accrued. Hospitals keep records of everyone in every surgery and the duties performed so it'll be a piece of cake to prove I was only in about 20 surgeries, not the 159 stated on my graduation papers.
DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME OR MONEY ON THIS SCHOOL. What they're doing is illegal, unethical and will probably kill some unsuspecting patient someday.
Oh, I forgot to mention how VIOLENT the students on campus are. Teachers getting threatened by students, students getting threatened by other students and a general sense of race separation among student the body. High school wasn’t this bad.