Are safety glasses or goggles required for med school?

[badgpadoc]

Do medical schools require their students to use goggles or safety glasses during labs?

The reason I ask is that I will be starting in the fall, but currently have a job with full benefits. My vision insurance covers lenses only this year so, if we are required to wear safety glasses during lab, I can use my insurance to have a pair of prescription safety glasses made up.

I do wear glasses every day so that's some protection, but as I know from working in a lab, if there is a regulation stating that safety glasses must be used, normal glasses aren't good enough.

Thanks!

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[Slane]

Not mine.

Ditto. Only reason I can think you'd ever need safety goggles/glasses in medical school would be if you did optional research of some sort. We did all of our core labs in shirt and tie. They're all pretty low key compared to what you will have done in undergraduate courses for organic chemistry and such.

 

[DocEspana]

Not mine.

no need for safety glasses in TouroCOM either.

 

[hocapoca]

I never use one in 4 years..

 

[randomusername]

Only time we've used any was briefly in anatomy lab while we were chiseling or sawing bone.

 

[WADO]

Never needed them. Like Randomusername mentioned, they were used very briefly but the school provided them. I would just ask your school if you want to be sure.

 

[p30doc]

Some people wore them in anatomy lab if the fumes bothered their eyes, other than that no.

 

[ejay1518]

Great conversation starter, esp in the beginning when you first start school.

 

[SFO-IST]

Some people wore them in anatomy lab if the fumes bothered their eyes, other than that no.

wearing glasses instead of contact lenses also helps.

 

[Cheshyre]

Not required at Western. A lot of people got them though. However, people with glasses typically just wore those. I forget if contacts were allowed. I wouldn't wear them.

Besides the fumes you don't have to worry about much unless your school gives you power tools for dissection. Those aren't necessary either - preserved bone yields shockingly easily to a hacksaw.

Real tips - buy nitrile gloves (latex lets the stench through) and double-glove. Also, consider rolling up the sleeves of your lab coat. Nothing is grosser than having anatomy lab juice absorb into the sleeves and climb up towards your elbows. You can wash your arm if it comes into contact briefly with tissue. You can't do anything about a wet sleeve.

Oh, wait, I lied - there's something grosser. Keep your mouth closed when you're doing detail work.

 

[randomusername]

Oh, wait, I lied - there's something grosser. Keep your mouth closed when you're doing detail work.

I'll second this. I've seen tissue and/or juice fly onto the lip or into the mouth of a couple of my lab partners.

 

[mddoc1]

Some people wore them in anatomy lab if the fumes bothered their eyes, other than that no.

Ditto

 

[tbone0705]

Not a requirement but a good idea if youre cutting into a wet body