Dusty Lynn, SA-C Knew the OR was for her at age 12

“When I was 12, I had a pretty significant surgery, and I knew from that point on that I wanted to work in the operating room,” Dusty says. “I found everything about it fascinating. After high school, I went to school to become a scrub tech and soon after knew I wanted to be a surgical assistant.”

With 28 years in the OR – 20 of them as a certified surgical assistant — Dusty has worked in a variety of surgical specialties. However, she has focused on assisting in neurosurgeries for the past six years since joining AP Health.

“I started out in vascular, but I’ve done basically everything – general surgery, orthopedics, plastics and OB/GYN,” she says. “I think I’ve touched on every specialty in my career.

“I love neurosurgery because it is challenging and it has the potential to make such a huge difference in the life of the patient,” Dusty explains. “When people have spinal surgery, they are almost always in a lot of pain. It’s a great feeling to see someone who has a herniated disc repaired and to know that in helping eliminate their pain, you are helping to improve their quality of life.”

Dusty specializes in neck, back and lateral surgeries, including fusions, cervical surgeries and laminectomies. She also assists in robotics surgeries two or three times per week. On any given day, she’ll do two to six surgeries, each of which can last anywhere from 30 minutes to four hours.

“With neurosurgery, each case is different and you’re always learning,” she says. “Multi-level fusions and tumor removals are the most challenging, which I really enjoy. I certainly don’t get bored.”

Dusty Prefers to be Part of a High Performance Team

Dusty has worked as an in-house surgical assistant for physician groups and hospitals, but she prefers being part of the high-performance team at AP Health.

“I’ve been in situations where I’ve been part of a small team of surgical assistants on staff, where it can be routine” Dusty explains. “I like working with an outsource solution company such as AP Health and building relationships with a variety of surgeons.”

Dusty also appreciates that AP offers the latest in technology, such as the LogistiSx app, which makes scheduling and documentation more efficient.

“It’s a great app. It’s very fast and so easy,” she says. “We put in our time and what procedures or floor work we did that day. Then we send it in through the app. It saves me a lot of time on documentation.

“I really like working at AP Health,” Dusty continues. “I’m part of a team and I’m able to focus on the parts of the job that I enjoy.  When COVID-19 hit and elective surgeries came to a halt, AP Health was able to still make sure we got paid. I feel very fortunate.  We are a fantastic group and we do our jobs well. I like being part of that.”