Advice Please

[instigata]

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Hi,

I wasn't sure if I should post this here, so sorry for that. My friend is stuck between medical school and pharmacy school. She gets queasy when she sees needles and blood. Is this something you can overcome? Is this a reason somebody should give up going to medical school? Does pharmacy school open their students up to blood, needles, and cadavers? THANKS!

 

[instigata]

bump?

 

[lord_jeebus]

If needles and blood is that bad for her, yet she really wants to go in medical school, she could get some CBT from a clinical psychologist to deal with it.

If it's not that bad for her yet she'd use it as an excuse to go into another field, she should probably go into a different field.

 

[thegymbum]

In all honesty... if one can't handle needles or blood... perhaps the medical profession is one to avoid. If she's able to get past her fears by exposing herself to those things, I say she should stick with it. But if she tries and still really can't handle it, I think she really needs to explore other options 😉

 

[BozoSparky]

my cousin is in pharmacy school...i remember she told me they were practicing injections one day...

i hope that needles do not stop her from going into medicine if it's what she really wants. that would be tragic! maybe she can volunteer some more and see how she feels.

 

[instigata]

Thanks for all your responses! I will see how she feels about this. Any other suggestions are welcome 🙂

 

[Shangal]

are you kidding me?

that can not be the reason why she doesn't want to go to medical school. And come on, unless you are 2 you shouldn't be afraid of blood. I wonder what she does in halloween then. And we all had paper cuts in one point or another, does she freak out every time she bleeds?

If anything, I think she should be more concerned with the cadavers, especially when you see their faces for the first time in anatomy, that should be more of an issue then seeing blood, and to be honest its only for the first minute and then everything will be normal again.

But if she is one of those rare rare people in the world who have a phobia from the sight of blood, then yeah, med school is not for her. And to be honest this is the first time I say med school is not for someone, because in my opinion, you can be an idiot and go to one.

If the concern is that she doesn't like drawing blood because she is afraid that she will poke her patient in a way that might cause her pain, then I think that is normal. And she will be fine with med school. I don't think you even need to draw blood if you are a doctor, unless a nurse can't find any veins, then you stick a needle under the tongue, but come one, who doesn't want to do that?

 

[Northerner]

If you think you won't be doing any blood draws in your medical training, you're nuts.

 

[Shangal]

I meant in your future career as a physician, not a student, you don't have to draw blood. Nurses will do that for you.

And when you are a student, it's not going to be during your first two years in med school, at least at my school, where you only had to do it once. And even then it was voluntary. And the resident who was teaching us how to do it told us that it was his first time too. So that's why I assumed that even during your clinical years, it was only voluntary too. But I might be wrong, and usually I am.

 

[Blade28]

I don't think you even need to draw blood if you are a doctor, unless a nurse can't find any veins, then you stick a needle under the tongue, but come one, who doesn't want to do that?

Unless your residency training is limited to private, cushy hospitals only, you'll be doing plenty of blood draws and starting lots of IVs as a resident.

Unless you're in pathology, radiology or psychiatry, that is.

 

[skypilot]

Plenty of poop too and other fluids that you really don't want to see or smell. Blood as part of a blood draw, that is nothing.