Job Check
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.
10 main tasks · most important first
Your main tasks and AI
Importance- 01Monitor and maintain aseptic technique throughout procedures.Mostly human for now
- 02Maintain an unobstructed operative field, using surgical retractors, sponges, or suctioning and irrigating equipment.Mostly human for now
- 03Pass instruments or supplies to surgeon during procedure.Mostly human for now
- 04Assist with patient resuscitation during cardiac arrest or other life-threatening events.Mostly human for now
- 05Verify the identity of patient or operative site.AI could speed this up, with extra tools
- 06Obtain or inspect sterile or non-sterile surgical equipment, instruments, or supplies.Mostly human for now
- 07Assist members of surgical team with gowning or gloving.Mostly human for now
- 08Cover patients with surgical drapes to create and maintain a sterile operative field.Mostly human for now
- 09Coordinate 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.Mostly human for now
- 10Determine availability of necessary equipment or supplies for operative procedures.Mostly human for now
Tasks from O*NET® 31.0 (US Department of Labor, CC BY 4.0, changed by us), most important first. “Already use” comes from Anthropic’s data on real work chats with Claude; “could speed up” from task ratings made with GPT-4 in 2023.
Four studies, side by side
None is a forecast of job lossToo little dataNot enough work use was seen to measure. This does not mean the job is safe from AI.Anthropic, 2026
4%of this job’s tasks an AI model could do in half the time, counting tasks that need extra tools as half (rated in 2023).Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin and Rock, 2023
Above 2% of jobsin how often and how well AI helped with this job’s work in Microsoft Copilot chats (2024 data).Microsoft Research (Tomlinson et al.), 2025
Above 55% of jobsin how much of this job’s physical work robots have been shown to do, from factories to homes (2026).Anthropic, 2026
Your human edge
The main tasks with no real AI use seen and no big speed-up expected. This is where your skill counts most 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.