An O.B. technologist discovers travel work in a post-pandemic world

Spring is here and so is our next spotlight candidate! This month, we spoke with someone from our Allied Professional team who works as a Surgical O.B. Technologist. This individual has been a surgical technologist since 2018 and has been with KPG Healthcare since 2021.

Without further ado, allow us to introduce Michele!

Let's meet Michele!

Michele is a surgical technologist who specializes in obstetrician (O.B.) and is currently on assignment in Riverside County, California. Before she was a surgical O.B. technologist, Michele worked as a medical assistant until she went back to school to get her degree.

She attended the Glendale Career College in Glendale, California, which had a 16-month program to receive a surgical technologist license. The program included one year of schooling and finished with six months of clinical work. “It was a tough program,” Michele said, “but if you study hard for tests and have a study group system, you can do it.” She recalled it being the best 16 months she ever did.

Michele officially became a surgical technologist in 2018 and luckily for her, the facility she worked at as a medical assistant allowed her to train in-house. What pushed her to get her license was breaking her foot, but it was more than that.

Michele is seen wearing the proper PPE during her regular shifts.

Michele always knew she wanted to pursue a career in the medical field when her mom got pregnant with her during nursing school. Unfortunately, Michele's mom never finished her nursing degree being a single mother, but Michele is hopeful her mom will one day. While young, Michele would take care of her grandmother who had Alzheimer’s disease.

Taking care of her grandmother translates to the patient care Michele practices daily. As a child, she would observe how nurses or other hospital staff aided her grandmother in the hospital, learning how hospitals function and what she needed to do at home.

Through the years, Michele realized she wanted to help people in the medical field. This ideology led her to become a medical assistant and then a surgical O.B. technologist.

As a surgical technologist, more specifically O.B., her responsibilities primarily involve assisting in delivering babies—both C-section and vaginal—and preparing delivery rooms. “There is a lot of T.L.C. (tender, love, and care) as an O.B. technologist,” she explains, “listening, being calm and some moms try to do labor without any help so a lot of [the role] is T.L.C.”

Michele is assisting in her duties as a surgical O.B. technologist.

According to Michele, Riverside is known for having three to four C-sections a day, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic. She can deliver up to 10 babies in a 12-hour shift, although not every birth is a joyful union.

There are occasions of fetal loss or stillbirth—which is the loss of a baby after 20 weeks of pregnancy—that are difficult for everyone in the delivery room. “Some days are good, and some are bad,” she admits.

Despite the heartbreak of losing a child before, during, or after labor, Michele faces additional challenges as an O.B. technologist. Working the night shift often means fewer resources, with closed labs or delayed carrier availability that take time away from patient care. “The nightshift staff may have to do more work without certain access to people,” she explained.

There is also the issue of a lack of respect and understanding for what other healthcare professionals do beyond nurses and doctors. While nurses handle many tasks, it doesn’t justify overlooking the contributions of others.

“It's not just the nursing staff. The doctors and nurses won't know where anything is without us,” Michele states. Every role relies on the other to succeed, making teamwork essential. She explains, “the nurse is for the mom, NICU for the baby, and us for everyone.”

The lack of respect extends beyond Riverside County, compounded by limited resources and personnel. The Covid-19 pandemic exposed cracks in the healthcare system, making daily responsibilities even more challenging when short-staffed or under-equipped.

For Michele, overcoming pandemic challenges hasn’t been easy, but she’s adapting. She explains that she comes in, plans for the hospital staff, and ensures the delivery team has all supplies in their “vaginal carts.” Staying ahead and planning for any scenario has helped her navigate this post-pandemic world.

The healthcare industry is in constant flux. The pandemic is just one example of how professionals must adapt—learning something new every day from every experience that may benefit the team in the future.

Everything she has learned thus far has come through life—especially caring for patients. Her grandmother raised her and taught her to always be prepared. From caregiving as a child to being a single mom at 30, these lessons will stay with her forever, shaping her life for the better.

“Tomorrow is another day; everything will be fine in the end.” - Michele

With her pandemic experiences, Michele decided to pursue travel as an O.B. technologist. Like many new travel healthcare professionals, she hadn’t realized you could be a “travel” tech without physically crossing state lines. She joined KPG Healthcare and signed up for an assignment within a week and a half. “Everything was so easy, and it happened so fast!” she exclaimed.

Becoming a travel tech has been a positive choice for Michele—it allows her to work the night shift while being with her fiancé and son. She owes it to them for not wanting her to leave after all that’s happened these recent years. It’s the small things—like having dinner ready, a clean home, and a safe space to decompress—that truly count. “Being present more with my family has helped a lot,” she says.

Michele, right, her fiancé, left, and her son, bottom left, pose for a family picture.

Her path to KPG Healthcare has been smooth, with her recruiter Joseph playing a crucial role. “Everyone has been great, nice and pleasant across the board. It has been such an easy process as a whole,” she said, despite being nervous about the travel process, taxes, and even the word “travel.” She’s already extended her contract and is loving the weekly payouts.

From all of us at KPG Healthcare, we wish Michele and her family the very best now and in the future. With two decades of service to the healthcare industry and a deep love for her family, her work is truly remarkable. KPG Healthcare appreciates all she does for the community—thank you, Michele, and keep up the fantastic work. And don’t forget to “have a margarita!”

Michele’s advice for those interested in pursuing a career as a Surgical Technologist?

1. It’s the best of all healthcare professions. The best thing about a surgical technologist is you do the surgeries, you pick the specialty, work in all the specialties, pick one and just do your job. No paperwork. Your focus is your specialty.
2. The amazing aspect of it as a traveler, you get to go in, do your job, spread some sunshine around, and either stay or move on to the next assignments.
3. Surgical technologists have come a long way in pay and are doing more than just surgeries.

Want to be part of our Allied Professional team? Click the link to check out their job board or you can email your resumes to allied@kpghealthcare.com to get connected with one of our recruiters today! Click this link to find out more about our Allied Team!