advances, such as fiber optics, laser and robotic technology, will permit an increasing number of new surgical procedures to be performed and also will allow surgical technologists to participate in a greater number of procedures. History United States The role of the surgical technologist began on the battlefields in World War I and World War II when the U.S. Army used "medics" to work under the direct supervision of the surgeon. Concurrently, medical "corpsman" were used in the United States Navy aboard combat ships. Nurses were not allowed aboard combat ships at the time. This led to a new profession within the military called operating room technicians (ORTs). With many medical personnel overseas or performing duties in military hospitals, an accelerated nursing program with emphasis only on operating room technology was set up as an on-the-job training of nursing assistants who worked in the surgery department. These individuals studied sterilization of instruments and how to care for the patient in the operating room. Techniques, sutures, draping and instrumentation were emphasized; they also had to do clinical time in labor and delivery and the emergency room. After the Korean War there were shortages of operating room nurses. Operating room supervisors began to recruit ex-medics and ex-corpsmen to work in civilian hospitals. These ex-military men functioned as circulators in the operating room while the scrub role or "instrument nurse" role was performed by the registered nurse. It was not until 1965 that these roles were reversed. In 1967, the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN) published a book titled Teaching the Operating Room Technician. In 1968, the AORN Board of Directors created the Association of Operating Room Technicians (AORT). The AORT formed two committees in 1969, the Liaison Council on Certification for the Surgical Technologist or LCC-ST (now known as the National Board of Surgical Technology and Surgical Assisting or NBSTSA) and the Joint Committee on Education. The first certification examination was given in 1970, and those who passed the certification examination were given a new title: Certified Operating Room Technician (CORT). In 1973, AORT became independent of AORN and changed the title of the position to what it is today, surgical technologist. The AORT also changed their name to the Association of Surgical Technologists (AST). In 1974, an accreditation body was established to ensure quality education. The programs accredited by ARC/STSA (Accreditation Review Committee for Surgical Technology and Surgical Assisting; formerly