Good enough to become a surgeon ?

[Ifeani Udeze]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Hello people !

I want to become a surgeon . I am fascinated by surgeries

In my med school we do phlebotomies and IVs . I suck at them . For example i will suceed in 4 out of 10 blood drawals .Maybe i am too anxious .

My question is : If i suck at phlebotomies and IVs and i have anxiety , will i ever be able to become a surgeon , where i will have to do a lot more to a person ?????

I would really appreciate your help and some personal experience .

Thanks a lot guys, wish you the best

 

[NotaCop]

nah dude you’re screwed quit now and switch to hospital administration while you still have the chance

 

[eteshoe]

Hey there if your user name is your real name, you may want to change it to protect your anonymity.

In general, with more practice you’ll get better at draws and IVs (though these are procedures that are routinely done by nurses) but I can’t imagine that your current skills will prevent you from pursuing a surgical specialty. As long as your board scores are high enough and you do well in your clinical rotations (this will mean being proactive if your manual dexterity skills are weak), you have a good chance.

 

[XannyBarz]

Sounds like you have just enough neuroticism to be a competent surgeon.

 

[Ifeani Udeze]

You mean that i am too neurotic so i will not be a good surgeon ?

 

[Ifeani Udeze]

I am not American so i didnt understand fully what you wrote

 

[toedrag]

Hard to draw parallels between being a phlebotomist/ IV tech, and surgeon...As far as phlebotomy and placing peripheral IVs goes, it's certainly a steep learning curve. It's a clinical skill that one doesn't necessarily master overnight.

 

[OrthoTraumaMD]

I’m a surgeon, I haven’t done an IV since medical school. That said, it depends on what kind of “anxiety” this is, and whether it is tolerable or not —the answer to which you won’t find online. But if procedures themselves make you anxious, then you should probably consider a specialty that doesn’t have many procedures.

 

[NotAProgDirector]

Perhaps the bigger issue here is where you are in medical school. If you're not in a US school, your chances of getting a surgical training position in the US are limited. If you are in a US school, being a surgeon has nothing to do with skill in placing IV's, and honestly if you practiced just placing IV's for awhile you'd probably get really good at it.

 

[Psai]

I missed an IV just yesterday and I've done thousands

On a related note, I think I'd be a fantastic surgeon

 

[getdown]

Are we getting trolled? I feel like I'm reading one of those phishing emails from a Nigerian prince asking help to move funds out of their country.

 

[ed*26]

A surgeon once told me that she could teach a monkey to operate. The skills aren't the hard part. It's the performing under pressure and being cool and decisive when someone's life is on the line. You won't know if you can do that (or want to do that) until you try it.