General Character Question

[THX]

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I’m fascinated by the work surgeons undertake, yet I have a simple issue: I’m a tad squeamish. I’m wondering if many surgeons initially are a bit squeamish yet overcome this as they gain operating room experience?

 

[dry dre]

I’m fascinated by the work surgeons undertake, yet I have a simple issue: I’m a tad squeamish. I’m wondering if many surgeons initially are a bit squeamish yet overcome this as they gain operating room experience?

Yours is a totally normal response. You get over it.

 

[SteadyEddy]

Without going into too much detail...I was totally afraid of sick and dead folks until the age of 12. I still gag when I smell 1. diabetic feet 2. fresh poop 3. nasal purulence. So don't worry...you'll definitely get over most of it. Just do some systematic desensitization 🙂.

I’m fascinated by the work surgeons undertake, yet I have a simple issue: I’m a tad squeamish. I’m wondering if many surgeons initially are a bit squeamish yet overcome this as they gain operating room experience?

 

[surg4me]

it's a great question...i think many people have similar questions but are afraid to ask...

well, I can tell you that I still get grossed out when I see certain things...I was a bit worried of passing out in the OR as a MS3 but it never happened...

...and I'm going into GS.

i asked my surgery preceptor and one of my surgery advisors as a MS3 and they both said that it's not unheard of for people to have passed out or was squimish (as a med student or resident) at a point in their career...you'll eventually get desensitized to the experience...it's a normal reaction (vagal) to the unfamiliar or simply because you're too engrossed in the yucky parts of surgery...

don't let this get in the way of a surgery career if it's what you want...and good luck in what ever you do and continue to ask good questions.

 

[Winged Scapula]

I'm pretty sqeamish at times as well, but I discovered its mostly with my blood or that of others. That said, therea are some things which will make me gag almost any time (vomit mostly) and things which do so when I'm feling a bit under the weather.

Like most things you will become accustomed to it, especially during gross anatomy and your surgical rotations. If you like the work, you'll find yourself doing things you never imagined (and not fit for discussion in polite company).

 

[TigerLily46]

I was terrified that I would pass out my first day in surgery. It was a gigantic case (a whipple), which ended up taking something like 5 hours.

My advice to you is don't stress out too much about it. There were a few times that I started to feel light-headed, and I discovered that if I bent my knees a little and shifted my feet around I felt better immediately. I'm not sure if it was moving the blood around that had pooled in my feet, or just focusing on something else for a few minutes that helped. Either way, I made it though, and I want to be a surgeon. My attending let me bovey some stuff on my last day in surgery, and a budding surgeon was born.

 

[Foxxy Cleopatra]

Yes, there are some things that still make me cringe despite 2 years of surgery residency. Watching someone vomit still makes me walk in the opposite direction, heavy body filth and the accompanying odor, as well as fresh stool- ugggh. I've learned to tolerate almost anything as long as I breathe through my mouth.

As for fainting in the OR, sometimes you may have not had anything to eat/drink in several hours, you may be sick, so it may get to you, especially on the cases where you are standing there retracting. I was on a very busy service, working many hours, hadn't had anything to drink in >10 hours when I went down while retracting one day last summer. It's also happened to some of guys bigger and tougher than me as well- sometimes you're sick or worn and it hits you. I've learned to carry things to drink and take something small to eat (even if I don't have time to sit down) and have done pretty well since.

 

[Celiac Plexus]

pre-residency aversions:

-the act of disimpaction
-the odor of peri-rectal abscess pus
-needing to wear the purple hazard masks during anal condyloma excisions (every tickle in my throat was surely a newly sprouting condyloma...)

current aversions:

-pages from the er

 

[Celiac Plexus]

My attending let me bovey some stuff on my last day in surgery, and a budding surgeon was born.

sweet!

 

[TigerLily46]

pre-residency aversions:

-the act of disimpaction
-the odor of peri-rectal abscess pus
-needing to wear the purple hazard masks during anal condyloma excisions (every tickle in my throat was surely a newly sprouting condyloma...)

current aversions:

-pages from the er

I saw a condyloma excision during my surgery rotation and we had to wear these glasses that made us look like Elton John of the "Benny and the Jets" era! They were pink, and my attending, who is a big, football-player-type guy looked so funny I couldn't stand it.