Assist healthcare practitioners during surgery.

Assist healthcare practitioners during surgery. is a detailed work activity in O*NET — a concrete unit of work shared across 9 occupations and seen in 14 occupation-specific tasks. It rolls up into the broader work activity Assist healthcare practitioners during medical procedures. in Assisting and Caring for Others .

Detailed work activities are the most granular shared layer in O*NET's work-activity hierarchy (Generalized → Intermediate → Detailed → occupation-specific task). The figures below describe how this activity shows up across the economy and what independent studies measure about AI and this kind of work — not a prediction that the work will be automated.

AI exposure

Of the 14 tasks under this activity that the OpenAI / Eloundou “GPTs are GPTs” study rated, 1 (7%) are flagged as directly exposed to language models (E1) or exposed via model-powered tools (E2).

The Anthropic Economic Index observes real AI use on 1 of these tasks, with a mean mapped-usage share of 0.002% per task.

Exposure estimates overlap with model capabilities — whether a model could speed the task up — not whether the work will be done by software. Observed AI use is augmentation and assistance today, not jobs replaced.

Member tasks

Occupation-specific tasks O*NET maps to this detailed work activity, most important first.

• Scrub arms and hands and assist the surgical team to scrub and put on gloves, masks, and surgical clothing. · Surgical Technologists · importance 4.8 · no direct exposure
• Provide technical assistance to surgeons, surgical nurses, or anesthesiologists. · Surgical Technologists · importance 4.8 · no direct exposure
• Hand instruments and supplies to surgeons and surgeons' assistants, hold retractors and cut sutures, and perform other tasks as directed by surgeon during operation. · Surgical Technologists · importance 4.8 · no direct exposure
• Assist physicians in performing ophthalmic procedures, including surgery. · Ophthalmic Medical Technicians · importance 4.7 · no direct exposure
• Prepare dressings or bandages and apply or assist with their application following surgery. · Surgical Technologists · importance 4.7 · no direct exposure
• Assist physicians in the diagnosis and treatment of cardiac or peripheral vascular treatments, such as implanting pacemakers or assisting with balloon angioplasties to treat blood vessel blockages. · Cardiovascular Technologists and Technicians · importance 4.6 · exposure with tools
• Pass instruments or supplies to surgeon during procedure. · Surgical Assistants · importance 4.4 · no direct exposure
• Coordinate work with physicians or other healthcare team members, including providing assistance during invasive procedures. · Diagnostic Medical Sonographers · importance 4.4 · no direct exposure
• Provide physicians with assistance during surgery or complicated medical procedures. · Physician Assistants · importance 4.3 · no direct exposure
• Assist in the insertion, positioning, or suturing of closed-wound drainage systems. · Surgical Assistants · importance 4.2 · no direct exposure
• Assist members of surgical team with gowning or gloving. · Surgical Assistants · importance 4.2 · no direct exposure
• Assist physicians in performing ophthalmic procedures, including surgery. · Ophthalmic Medical Technologists · importance 4.1 · no direct exposure
• Provide consultation and surgical assistance to other physicians and surgeons. · Orthopedic Surgeons, Except Pediatric · no direct exposure
• Provide consultation and surgical assistance to other physicians and surgeons. · Pediatric Surgeons · no direct exposure

Occupations that perform this

• Surgical Technologists
• Ophthalmic Medical Technicians
• Cardiovascular Technologists and Technicians
• Surgical Assistants
• Diagnostic Medical Sonographers
• Physician Assistants
• Ophthalmic Medical Technologists
• Orthopedic Surgeons, Except Pediatric
• Pediatric Surgeons

Sources for this page

Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.

• O*NET 30.3 U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development
• Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27) Anthropic
• “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130 OpenAI / academic

Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.

@misc{singulariki-assist-healthcare-practitioners-during-surgery,
  title  = {Assist healthcare practitioners during surgery.},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/detailed-activities/assist-healthcare-practitioners-during-surgery}
}