freaking out

[Madhatter]

hey!

i'm really worried about being able to survive the clinical aspects of medical school. i start to over think things and end up screwing them up and feeling sick to my stomach, i.e. giving someone an injection all i can think about is the fact that i am actually piercing human flesh and then i start to get all freaked out.

r there any tips to overcome this?? will i overcome this???

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[chameleonknight]

Holy crap, son, settle down.

I'm assuming that you are a pre-clinical med student, like myself. Something I've found comforting is talking to some of the residents or attendings. See if your school has some kind of mentoring/advising program; everyone has had fears about medicine at some point or another. How you respond to these fears is part of what determines your success.

 

[KyGrlDr2B]

I wouldn't worry about this right now. Once you get to your clinical years, you'll be allowed to observe basically any procedures you want and perform them if you want to. The best thing is to watch a whole bunch and then you won't be AS nervous doing it because you've seen several and you have someone there to help you.

 

[Mumpu]

Not a fan of needles either, but it gets better once you realise that sticking other people doesn't hurt you one bit (yes, it sounds very callous but it helps).

 

[heldicus]

Not a fan of needles either, but it gets better once you realise that sticking other people doesn't hurt you one bit (yes, it sounds very callous but it helps).

Yeah...neither does reducing someone's dislocated shoulder!

 

[ddmo]

Have you started Gross dissection yet?

 

[niko327]

To the OP,
Relax brother, your apprehensions are pretty common. It's a good sign that you are concerned with screwing up and hurting someone, it'll keep you on your toes. So long as you are aware of the possibility of screwing up I can assure you that in the long run, you'll cause much less discomfort to your patients.
As for the freaking out thing, try to change the focus of your thoughts from piercing human flesh to protecting life and health. Try to remember that what you are doing is beneficial for the patient. You are "piercing human flesh" to deliver life sustaining medication or taking blood to find the cause of an ailment. I know it sounds stupid, but just stop and reflect on this little thought just before doing a procedure, it's helped others in the past. Good Luck.

 

[azzarah]

hey!

i'm really worried about being able to survive the clinical aspects of medical school. i start to over think things and end up screwing them up and feeling sick to my stomach, i.e. giving someone an injection all i can think about is the fact that i am actually piercing human flesh and then i start to get all freaked out.

r there any tips to overcome this?? will i overcome this???

Don't worry...I fainted the first time I scrubbed in for a surgery, but now I have become desensitized. Hey, maybe I'll even become a surgeon!

 

[rjhtamu]

I don't have any problems sticking people with needles, but whenever I get stuck, I get horribly lightheaded. We did our venipuncture sessions last week and although the guy did a great job on me, I still almost passed out.

 

[Mumpu]

That's a vasovagal thing. I've been like that for as long as I can remember. I've had no problems in gross or in surgery but just looking at the needles makes me feel edgy.

 

[Madhatter]

what kind of procedures do med students have to do on each other???

 

[stinkycheese]

I actually enjoy drawing blood-- not because I enjoy inflicting pain, but because I enjoy the challenge of doing it so well that I minimize the potential pain to the patient. It is inevitable, no matter who draws blood, that there will be some pain, but it is fulfilling to hone your craft to the point where you are inflicting as little as possible, which pleases the patient, and you.

 

[Mumpu]

Depends on the school. Typically you learn IV stuff on your classmates. If you go to a very rigorous school, you may have to practice DRE's on each other as well.

 

[ericdamiansean]

what kind of procedures do med students have to do on each other???

The simple ones, BP taking, temp etc
Harder ones, blood taking. You can practice on the junior students

 

[stormjen]

I've never had to give an injection nor draw blood from a patient, and I'm a fourth year med student. The only time I've drawn blood was during our student workshop. You can make it through med school without doing many clinical things.

 

[roja]

This is frightening.... unless you are going into pathology......


You can spend some time in the ED where you can get alot of exposure to doing IV's, etc. Or anethesia, you can but in iv's there as well.

The best thing is to practice. Its normal to be nervous and a little squimish. If you expose yourself a little earlier you won't embarrass yourself as a MS3