Fainting during shadowing

[usmile24]

Need opinions please! It was my first time shadowing in oral surgery, watching a pretty intense wisdom tooth extraction. I really don’t think I’m squeamish, but I passed out after maybe 20 minutes into observing. It felt like all the blood just pooled up in my legs.. I bet if I was sitting I would’ve been fine. And of course I didn’t eat breakfast that morning. Will this be a problem for me as an incoming D1 student? Has anyone else experienced anything similar/ how have you gotten over the more gruesome produces? I really do enjoy dentistry and I’m excited to start school, Im just worried this could become a consistent issue. I’m not sure if something like this is common.

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[HKSZYU]

I also used to be super squeamish, and while I didn't actually faint, I definitely got close a few times. Here are a few things that helped me:

On the actual day of watching the surgery

1. Make sure to eat breakfast and hydrate.
2. If you're standing, don't lock your knees. Keep a gentle bend in your knees will help. Also, if you're feeling yourself begin to get light headed, squeeze your thigh and butt muscles to help keep blood circulating.

Outside of surgery

1. Do things to desensitize yourself. For me, I watched a lot of surgeries on YouTube so that I'd get more familiar with the sight of blood, the sight of surgical tools, etc. I tried to watch a few minutes every few days, and I'd try to watch them standing up, to mimic real conditions.
2. Become familiar with the procedures. At least for me personally, when I was more familiar with what the surgeon would be doing, I wouldn't be surprised or suddenly grossed out because I knew the basic steps and was prepared for the bloodier bits when they came.

Lastly, don't stress yourself out too much about this. I think it's natural to be a bit unsettled by the sight of blood. You gradually get more used to it throughout school.

 

[usmile24]

I also used to be super squeamish, and while I didn't actually faint, I definitely got close a few times. Here are a few things that helped me:

On the actual day of watching the surgery

1. Make sure to eat breakfast and hydrate.
2. If you're standing, don't lock your knees. Keep a gentle bend in your knees will help. Also, if you're feeling yourself begin to get light headed, squeeze your thigh and butt muscles to help keep blood circulating.

Outside of surgery

1. Do things to desensitize yourself. For me, I watched a lot of surgeries on YouTube so that I'd get more familiar with the sight of blood, the sight of surgical tools, etc. I tried to watch a few minutes every few days, and I'd try to watch them standing up, to mimic real conditions.
2. Become familiar with the procedures. At least for me personally, when I was more familiar with what the surgeon would be doing, I wouldn't be surprised or suddenly grossed out because I knew the basic steps and was prepared for the bloodier bits when they came.

Lastly, don't stress yourself out too much about this. I think it's natural to be a bit unsettled by the sight of blood. You gradually get more used to it throughout school.

Thank you! This is something I have been stressing out over. I know I locked my knees up and the room was kinda stuffy. Maybe compression socks would help too.

 

[HKSZYU]

Thank you! This is something I have been stressing out over. I know I locked my knees up and the room was kinda stuffy. Maybe compression socks would help too.

I've never used them for anti-fainting, but I have several friends that have standing jobs and find them useful.

 

[Saddleshoes]

Not to worry! When you are DOING IT is very different then when your are just watching it.

I had an experience very like what you have shared. Guess what...
I am now the "go to guy" for surgical stuff in our program and do surgical procedures every day.

 

[setdoc7]

My chief resident passed out in the OR twice during her residency. Both times she did not eat breakfast. Moral of the story: Breakfast is the most important meal of the OR day.

 

[deleted913442]

I got super light headed the first few times I shadowed (luckily never passed out) & now I want to do surgery (seen some gnarly cases and have been fine now).. you learn to desensitize yourself. The surgeon I shadowed pulled me aside and said he passed out at the sight of blood during his D1 year and now is doing crazy surgeries. His advice to me was just that you have to treat the patient, in a sense, like something that is broken and needs to be fixed. Take yourself out of the situation and keep in mind that the patient is numbed up and not feeling a thing!

 

[desertrat12]

On an externship I was retracting for a long surgery, I started shifting my weight around to get more comfortable, the program director saw this and thought I was going to pass out, I let him know that wasn’t the case. I think he thought I was trying to put on a tough face as an extern and he gave me a mini pep talk about how some of the worlds greatest surgeons have passed out during surgery at the start of their training and I shouldn’t feel bad at all if I need to scrub out for a few minutes...bottom line, you’re normal.

 

[deleted721052]

Staying up on a concrete floor for a long time, being hot with the light, not moving at all is a recipe for fainting. Be sure you don’t lock your knee, squeeze your legs muscle every few minutes, drink gatorade or juice just before entering and wear as little as you can to not overheat. Also, don’t fix anything; move your eyes around the room. Ohh and drink a lot of water if you have low blood pressure.

It’s probably not even the blood that made you drop on the floor but the whole environnement. These tricks all helped me and it’s so much easier once you are doing something and being concentrated on the procedures

 

[luisfigo]

keep your legs moving, happened to me within 20 min of shadowing my first case, was worried I couldn't handle it. Turns out just locked my knees and was hungry.

 

[SilkyJ]

Don’t lose any sleep over it. It sounds silly now, but the first time I saw bone, I got rather flushed. This one experience has had no bearing whatsoever on the rest of my training.

1. You get used to seeing surgical things
2. It’s not uncommon at all, just most folks won’t admit that it’s ever happened to them
3. It’s far less likely to happen when you’re the one operating
4. There are other factors at play. Being in a room that’s too hot, wearing a gown, for a long time, makes anyone feel flushed (regardless of what the procedure is)

If it becomes a pattern, then maybe OS may not be your favorite specialty, but this definitely shouldn’t deter you from entering dentistry. I don’t know a single dentist who left school because they were squeamish. Try not to dwell on it, it’s nothing to be embarrassed about.

 

[Unwind]

Need opinions please! It was my first time shadowing in oral surgery, watching a pretty intense wisdom tooth extraction. I really don’t think I’m squeamish, but I passed out after maybe 20 minutes into observing. It felt like all the blood just pooled up in my legs.. I bet if I was sitting I would’ve been fine. And of course I didn’t eat breakfast that morning. Will this be a problem for me as an incoming D1 student? Has anyone else experienced anything similar/ how have you gotten over the more gruesome produces? I really do enjoy dentistry and I’m excited to start school, Im just worried this could become a consistent issue. I’m not sure if something like this is common.

It's super common. The key or explanation to this is, "It was my first time shadowing in oral surgery". It's your first time, so don't beat yourself up about it. The more repetitions you get, the more you'll get used to it.