Do neurosurgeons get screened for STDs?

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MG_23

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Neurosurgery is fascinating to me. However, I am afraid I won't be able to accomplish this dream, now that I tested positive for an std. Do medical schools screen for stds? I have read that transmission is very unlikely with standard precautions. It is also a moral dilemma, as it is not entirely impossible either.

Are my dreams of being a neurosurgeon completely shattered?
 
I can't think of a scenario where any doctor with an STD would have a problem working with patients.....

And no, I've never heard of a med school(or any professional school) screen people for STDs.....
 
I know I wouldn't feel comfortable with a surgeon operating on me who was HIV positive, he cuts himself during operation with hands inside me…umm no thanks. But for a pcp don't see a problem.
 
4/10
 
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Beargryllz said:
The most important rule in surgery is to cut the person on the table, not oneself
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How easy or difficult is it to follow that rule? How often do most surgeons cut themselves, if you have any idea?
 
TooMuchResearch said:
So you'd ask your surgeon their HIV status? Okay.
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No, I wouldn't ask. If they had to disclose if they were HIV positive--then I would feel more comfortable with a surgeon who didn't have HIV then one who did. And how you can't seem to fathom the simple point I am making is annoying. Rather avoid having a HIV + surgeon inside me with scalpels and his opposite hand running close by. As I said a pcp doc who had HIV I feel would have no need to disclose and I would have absolutely no problem seeing them as my pcp. But, a surgeon I would rather not have HIV+ dude opening me up…and I am sure I am not alone on this.😕
 
bambam92 said:
No, I wouldn't ask. If they had to disclose if they were HIV positive--then I would feel more comfortable with a surgeon who didn't have HIV then one who did. And how you can't seem to fathom the simple point I am making is annoying. Rather avoid having a HIV + surgeon inside me with scalpels and his opposite hand running close by. As I said a pcp doc who had HIV I feel would have no need to disclose and I would have absolutely no problem seeing them as my pcp. But, a surgeon I would rather not have HIV+ dude opening me up…and I am sure I am not alone on this.😕
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Oh god, you're going to end up as one of those residents that refuses to do anything invasive on patients with HIV or hep C and tries to frantically turf off everything from central lines to ABGs aren't you? 🙄
 
Mad Jack said:
Oh god, you're going to end up as one of those residents that refuses to do anything invasive on patients with HIV or hep C and tries to frantically turf off everything from central lines to ABGs aren't you? 🙄
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I am not even in med school year. I have to do well on this MCAT before I would even be faced with the situation you laid out. And know I would do it, but because I am the one in control of procedure. I.e. I stick myself running a line on an HIV patient its on me--I messed up. I can cope with this a lot better than after post-op, "Oh, the attending fixing your valve pricked himself while in your thoracic cavity and blood may have been transferred. Oh yeah he is also HIV positive." I would lose my mind with this situation! If I am getting operated on and presumably sedated I have zero control over a situation with a HIV+ surgeon operating on me, just hope he doesn't prick himself or even lacerate himself. I realize this is a slim chance of happening, but at the end of the day if I had a choice between a HIV+ surgeon and HIV- operating on me I would pick HIV-. If you can't understand where I am coming from then I don't know what to say, but I am done with this thread. Adios👍
 
Gauss44 said:
How easy or difficult is it to follow that rule? How often do most surgeons cut themselves, if you have any idea?
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I saw two cases while I was volunteering at an occupation department at a local hospital
 
LMBLBM said:
I saw two cases while I was volunteering at an occupation department at a local hospital
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To get a sense of how common it is, how many hours did you volunteer roughly?
 
Gauss44 said:
To get a sense of how common it is, how many hours did you volunteer roughly?
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It was a short volunteer but my job was transfer paper documents to electronic. I think it was about two cases total in 4 years.
 
bambam92 said:
I am not even in med school year. I have to do well on this MCAT before I would even be faced with the situation you laid out. And know I would do it, but because I am the one in control of procedure. I.e. I stick myself running a line on an HIV patient its on me--I messed up. I can cope with this a lot better than after post-op, "Oh, the attending fixing your valve pricked himself while in your thoracic cavity and blood may have been transferred. Oh yeah he is also HIV positive." I would lose my mind with this situation! If I am getting operated on and presumably sedated I have zero control over a situation with a HIV+ surgeon operating on me, just hope he doesn't prick himself or even lacerate himself. I realize this is a slim chance of happening, but at the end of the day if I had a choice between a HIV+ surgeon and HIV- operating on me I would pick HIV-. If you can't understand where I am coming from then I don't know what to say, but I am done with this thread. Adios👍
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Any surgeon would likely be on antiretrovirals and have a vital load of damn near zero. Surgeon acquired HIV infections are so rare as to be unheard of nowadays in first world countries.

Hep C is a far greater risk. While a guy with a minimal vital load and HIV will infect perhaps one in a thousand patients in an accident, a surgeon with active hepatitis would infect up to 10% of patients, and hep C is no joke.

Should you be lucky enough to be admitted to medical school, you'll have to face the risks of needlestick injuries nearly every day. A great number of your patients will have HIV and hepatitis. Just something to think about- on the ID floor of my hospital literally everyone with over 5 years experience had at least one high risk exposure at some point in their career.
 
bambam92 said:
No, I wouldn't ask. If they had to disclose if they were HIV positive--then I would feel more comfortable with a surgeon who didn't have HIV then one who did. And how you can't seem to fathom the simple point I am making is annoying. Rather avoid having a HIV + surgeon inside me with scalpels and his opposite hand running close by. As I said a pcp doc who had HIV I feel would have no need to disclose and I would have absolutely no problem seeing them as my pcp. But, a surgeon I would rather not have HIV+ dude opening me up…and I am sure I am not alone on this.😕
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A surgeon having HIV has 0 effect on your life, ever.

Unless you have hot steamy sex that is unprotected, or shoot up heroin together between cases.
 
Afraid of your surgeon lacerating himself? What kind of dumb *** surgeon would do that...? I can't fathom a realistic scenario. Maybe try not going to unqualified surgeons then...
 
Gauss44 said:
How easy or difficult is it to follow that rule? How often do most surgeons cut themselves, if you have any idea?
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Attendings in teaching hospitals are more likely to suffer intraoperative wounds due to the fact that residents are usually doing most of the case. It goes with the territory.
 
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the13fools said:
OP says STD, everyone assumes HIV...
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It's either HIV or Hepatitis, they're the only two that are blood-borne infections. OP asked about surgeons with STDs, one would assume they mean accidental blood-to-blood contact in surgery and not that the surgeon was having relations with their patients.
 
bambam92 said:
I can cope with this a lot better than after post-op, "Oh, the attending fixing your valve pricked himself while in your thoracic cavity and blood may have been transferred. Oh yeah he is also HIV positive." I would lose my mind with this situation! If I am getting operated on and presumably sedated I have zero control over a situation with a HIV+ surgeon operating on me, just hope he doesn't prick himself or even lacerate himself. ...
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Hope you wouldn't need a transfusion during that thoracic procedure... risk is low but non zero.

I had also wondered about the impact of acquiring HIV or other bloodborne pathogens as a surgeon. One of our attendings made an offhand comment about how exposure to HIV could be a career limiting event for him, indicating that he would no longer operate if he were seropositive. That may just be his personal feeling on the matter, though, rather than an institutional or other official obligation.

I have seen many sharps injuries. Usually needlestick, usually with solid suture needles, which are less likely to transmit a significant quantity of infectious material than hollow hypodermics. The needle certainly isn't used in the patient again after having pierced a surgeon, so no real transmission risk to the patient there.

I've seen a scalpel injury at the field twice. Once, a plastics surgeon was being grabby and reached blindly onto the mayo to help herself. Plastics is one of the only services that uses unguarded blades in our facility. She got a superficial cut on her thumb, no risk to patient. The other time... there was a guanopsychotic resident who was a danger to himself and others. He disregarded our sharps safety policies regularly, saying that they were ridiculous, drafted by nurses that didn't even scrub, yadda yadda. One fine day, he plunged a 15 blade deep into the palm of an attending doctor during a case. That is the only time I have seen a surgeon's blood in a patient's wound. I have no information on how that affected the resident's outcome, but that was the last time I saw him.
 
Promethean said:
I've seen a scalpel injury at the field twice. Once, a plastics surgeon was being grabby and reached blindly onto the mayo to help herself. Plastics is one of the only services that uses unguarded blades in our facility. She got a superficial cut on her thumb, no risk to patient. The other time... there was a guanopsychotic resident who was a danger to himself and others. He disregarded our sharps safety policies regularly, saying that they were ridiculous, drafted by nurses that didn't even scrub, yadda yadda. One fine day, he plunged a 15 blade deep into the palm of an attending doctor during a case. That is the only time I have seen a surgeon's blood in a patient's wound. I have no information on how that affected the resident's outcome, but that was the last time I saw him.
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😱😱😱
 
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