What would you say to a pre-med who really wants to be a doctor but is scared of blood. I can stand seeing cadavers, but pass out at the sight of surgery or getting my blood drawn. Any suggestions? Is this easy to get over or would you suggest entering another pre-health field?
Fear of Blood
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I was going to say that seeing your *own* blood and passing out isn't necessarily alarming - I'm the same way. I'm perfectly fine/unaffected when I see all the blood/guts spurting from other people in the ER where I work.
But if you can't see blood, period, then I don't know - if you can see yourself getting over it, maybe you have a chance. But if not... I don't see it working out.
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Suck it up. I assume you've already done this to some degree, but try focusing on why the sight of blood frightens you and decide that it isn't a legitimate reason. While the explanation for many of our fears aren't irrational, our responses tend to be. Who is better at handling a high pressure/dangerous situation such as a potential MVA? The driver who closes their eyes and covers their face with their hands, or the driver who keeps their grip on the steering wheel and uses the burst of adrenaline to react? You CAN control this. Once you figure out how, just like anything else in life, it takes practice/experience. Mind over matter.
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don't go into surgery
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No biggie. Blood is just water with some extras floating around in it.
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Mmm vein gravy!
My first trip to the Boston Science Museum as a kindergartner, I threw up when I saw a video of a baby being born. Needless to say, over the years that reflex has faded. Maybe hit up google images and desensitize yourself?
My first trip to the Boston Science Museum as a kindergartner, I threw up when I saw a video of a baby being born. Needless to say, over the years that reflex has faded. Maybe hit up google images and desensitize yourself?
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agree. The best way to get over the sight of blood is to see more blood...funny how that works, huh?
I've felt dizzy and almost passed out when shadowing a hematologist doing bone barrow biopsy for the first time. It was like was drilling with a screwdriver and very bloody. But as time goes on, you kinda get numb to it (hopefully this applies to others too..)
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Although it might be challenging going through your surgical clerkship, I think there are plenty of fields you can enter that won't involve seeing blood regularly (psychiatry comes to mind)
Its funny. I used to be afraid of the sight of blood, but after working as an EMT I became more concerned with the risk of acquiring infectious diseases from the blood more than anything else. Although I always wear gloves, I have had blood on my unprotected arms and it is a bit unnerving. I can only imagine how scary it must be to have an accidental needle stick after the needle has been used in a patient with Hep C, HIV, etc.
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I was terrified of blood. Heck even the word could make me feel lightheaded. I'm forcing myself to be exposed more to it. Over and over again. I still refuse to watch someone get their blood drawn, but at least I can be in the same room and know it is going on. That's a huge step up for me. Plus I am not fainting with nearly the frequency I used to.
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I recommend more exposure. Shadow in an ED, trauma bay or OR if you can. Either you will get over this or you won't. If you can't, then med school isn't for you. Because to be honest, you see a lot of blood in a number of rotations (surgery, OB, being the most obvious, but there are procedures in IM, etc., and you will see folks with blood coming out of mouth or rectum in IM, FM...). And even after the med school rotations, most of the blood free fields involve an internship year through IM (or surgery). So you either find a way to get past this or find a job you can actually do. The way to get over it is by exposure.
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If ya cant stand blood...you probably shouldnt go into medicine, might be a liiittle bit of a problem...especially during EM rotaitons
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I also used to get pretty lightheaded when I saw blood. In fact, I passed out during my first day of canine anatomy! I still get woozy and have to look away when someone's drawing my blood, but I'm a needle sissy.
However, if you REALLY want to do medicine, you will probably find that once you get involved in something really cool, you forget about how "gross" what you're doing is once you start living in the moment. Once I scrubbed in for my first surgery, it was smooth sailing!
(Disclaimer: I'm a vet, but it's pretty similar from a blood and guts standpoint.)
Good luck!
However, if you REALLY want to do medicine, you will probably find that once you get involved in something really cool, you forget about how "gross" what you're doing is once you start living in the moment. Once I scrubbed in for my first surgery, it was smooth sailing!
(Disclaimer: I'm a vet, but it's pretty similar from a blood and guts standpoint.)
Good luck!
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In the words of the interventional radiologist I shadowed, when I told him I didn't like seeing blood
"Well that is a good thing, if you liked seeing blood your probably a psychopath and shouldn't be a physician"
Then he went on to say that people can get used to it pretty quick.
"Well that is a good thing, if you liked seeing blood your probably a psychopath and shouldn't be a physician"
Then he went on to say that people can get used to it pretty quick.
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I believe your radiologist is right, no one should like seeing blood...but theres a difference between being scared/not enjoying seeing it, and flat out passing out from its sight....That sounds like a legitimate phobia and if thats the case, is more then just a matter of getting used to it...
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Good point, although he did tell me a funny story about one of his Rad residents passing and breaking out a tooth out after getting blood squirted on him.
I used to be terrified of the sight or even the word blood. It would make me vasovagal. But I forced myself to face my fear a little at a time. I started looking a pics of cuts, then pics of gsw's, then watch Discovery Health shows, then youtube videos of stuff like subcutaneous hematomas.
Then I went on to going hunting and cleaning small game and then deer. Cleaning a deer is incredibly bloody.
You've got to reprogram your brain's response to the way it reacts to things. You've got to face your fears head on.
BTW, blood is nothing compared to some of the stuff you'll see as a doctor. I'd take beautiful bright red arterial blood any day over the smell of pseudomonas or C-Diff any day.
Then I went on to going hunting and cleaning small game and then deer. Cleaning a deer is incredibly bloody.
You've got to reprogram your brain's response to the way it reacts to things. You've got to face your fears head on.
BTW, blood is nothing compared to some of the stuff you'll see as a doctor. I'd take beautiful bright red arterial blood any day over the smell of pseudomonas or C-Diff any day.
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I go vasovagal when I see my own blood/a needle going into my arm, haha! It's a horrible feeling, but I have no problem otherwise - with other people spurting blood. It seems to run in my family - fainting at the sight of out blood/needles (and everyone seems to be involved in healthcarre is some way). My mom is an RN, and she puts it this way: "I'm fine on THIS end of the needle."
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I would never understand why people whos afraid of blood want to be docs. I mean if u wana help ppl theres soooo many health professions with little to no blood contacts. Guts,urine,feces,blood I mean NOTHING affects me. I work like its nothing and keep it professional no matter how it smells or looks.
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I have no issues with blood or guts, but my issue is people in pain.
Not necessarily if someone goes "Ow, that hurts!" But screaming and all of that tends to get me. I'm pretty sure if I did encounter something like that in my medical career, the adrenaline that comes with trying to figure out what's going on and help them would take over, but you know.
Not necessarily if someone goes "Ow, that hurts!" But screaming and all of that tends to get me. I'm pretty sure if I did encounter something like that in my medical career, the adrenaline that comes with trying to figure out what's going on and help them would take over, but you know.
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That's actually a pretty naive statement. You will get to appreciate the sight of blood, because it actually helps you. It tells you something is perfused. It tells you if you are in the artery or vein when placing a line. It can tell you if you are most likely talking about an upper versus lower GI bleed. And countless other things. Blood is your friend in medicine.
The people who fear blood, pain and fever are the nurses. As a resident, you will constantly be paged that this patient is bleeding through their bandages, or that patient is spiking a fever, or that patient is writing in pain. They will want you to fix these things. However in many cases you may not want to fix them -- you need to see how bad it gets, whether it is self limiting, whether it gets to a level that you need to do something. The last thing you want to do is mask a sign. So you will frequently be keeping an eye on bleeding, on fevers, on pain, without actually giving meds. And this is the great divide between doctors and nurses. Nurses aren't as focused on the big picture, they want to treat the symptoms. A doctor often needs to let the symptoms emerge so he can get the big picture. And as a result, doctors like blood, fever, pain. These are his friends. These are his tools to tell what's what.
So yeah, I disagree that only a psychopath likes the sight of blood. That's like saying a doctor doesn't want to know a patient's vitals. It's a from the hip statement that simply isn't accurate. As I said before, you WILL see blood in med school, in residency. Even after residency, regardless of what field you go into every friend and family member who knows you are a doctor is going to want to show you their wounds/scrapes. If you cannot handle it, or get vasovagal and faint, you can't do this job. The number of times in med school that folks have to change scrubs because they get blood on them is not small. As I said, exposure through shadowing is probably the answer. If you can help doctors stitch up bleeding patients a few times without issues, you will be fine. If not, then I have no clue why you think you can make it down this path.
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EM rotations are not required at most med schools (although I highly recommend one as an elective whether you are going into that field or not). But surgery is. And in OBGYN you will attend surgical cases as well. And there will be procedures in pretty much every other field. And IVs that come out and bleed all over the place. And so on. You will not be insulated from blood in med school.
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The body really is a strange and mysterious thing.
I have no problem in surgery, even vascular surgeries, doing art lines, various taps, etc.
But getting an IV or putting one in just gives me the willies. It is the oddest vasovagal response. I think the odd sensation of having a needle in my vein just freaks me out, and when I do an IV, I can feel that sensation as if I was getting one. I'm getting the willies right now just writing about it. So weird!
I have no problem in surgery, even vascular surgeries, doing art lines, various taps, etc.
But getting an IV or putting one in just gives me the willies. It is the oddest vasovagal response. I think the odd sensation of having a needle in my vein just freaks me out, and when I do an IV, I can feel that sensation as if I was getting one. I'm getting the willies right now just writing about it. So weird!
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But a Pre-Med has none of the reasons to appreciate seeing blood that you mentioned before. If at this stage if a Pre-Med enjoys seeing blood then its because they think its "cool/interesting/intriguing" which is bordering on psychopathy given the fact that as you mentioned, premeds have even less medical training than nurses so therefore can't do anything with that information.
I agree completely about being able to be around blood without passing out, but that is much different than how you hear some pre-meds talk about blood. Its as if they actually enjoy it, like they are watching some real life "Saw" movie or something.
Speaking of hemophobia, has anyone seen the British comedy Doc Martin? It's a funny show about a surgeon who developed a fear of blood and quit to become a GP in a small village in the English countryside.
It's on Netflix streaming, BTW.
It's on Netflix streaming, BTW.
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You will note that Law2Doc is a fine poster and an invaluable resource, but he doesn't really do tongue-in-cheek.
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Desensitization is key.
Step 1: Get a washtub and a Buck knife.
Step 2: Get a 5 gallon camp shower.
Step 3: Get a freshly killed deer.
I think you'll know what to do.
That kind of things works even better with children!
Future med school valedictorian:
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A friend of mine had this exact same problem. He ended up pursuing a different career path.
Like others have said, just desensitize. Watch surgeries and all that good stuff. With time you'll probably get used to it.
Like others have said, just desensitize. Watch surgeries and all that good stuff. With time you'll probably get used to it.
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Become more comfortable with it. Period.
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