Hand Sanitizing?

[The right Path]

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I trust my health with that person because I am a transsexual and he is the only doctor in the STATE that will accept transsexual patients. So either I don't get medical treatment at all and nearly die of pneumonia because I don't have access to a doctor (which is what nearly happened before I had him), or I deal with his lack of hand washing. Luckily, I am always the first patient of the day.

It's truly unfortunate that your sexuality is a barrier to getting appropriate care. I hope you can find someone that truly meets all your needs. In the meantime, if your doctor/patient relationship is so good, maybe you can have a real discussion about your concerns about hygienic practices (if indeed is is a concern to you). I get it, there are risks involved with personal and professional interactions and even moreso when the two aren't completely separate. It's a personal decision. Risks have to be taken somewhere for progress to be made. I am more outspoken, I guess. And thus far, maintaining tact and respect (moreso obviously, than on an internet forum, I guess 😉), it works out. Good luck.

What in the HELL does this have to do with some douche shadowing a doctor? Why stop at hand-washing? Perhaps he should counsel the doctor on his relationship with his wife for the sake of the doctor's children?

"You know doc, I overheard you on the phone with your wife, and I noticed a bit of a tone of your part. Now I know relationships can be demanding, but please, for the sake of your children, you need to learn how to cope with these stressors. Here's my cell phone number if you need any further counseling. Now let's go see some patients! Right after you wash your hands."

Reel yourself in buddy. This whole thread was about the OP's discomfort with the fact that the doctor he has been shadowing is negligent when it comes to basic hygeine. Some have stated they believe that failure to wash your hands is no big deal. I disagree. Some have stated that there is no way, no how that a lowly premed should ever raise a concern with a doctor. I disagree. And you equate that with protocol zealotry and meddling with personal relationships? What are you smoking?

 

[sideways]

And sideways, instead of acting like the thread clown and berating a pre-med, maybe you should wait until you've actually been on the wards to claim expert status on this issue. Simply being in medical school doesn't make you an expert on what happens in clerkship. Your posts are as laughable as they are ignorant.

Listen you tool, I'm not berating a pre-med, I'm berating a human being that thinks it's appropriate for a student shadowing a doctor to tell him how to do his job.

And 10 points for reading comprehension fail. This student isn't on a clerkship. It's a pre-med shadowing a doctor in his office. Whoops!

 

[DrBowtie]

He is a PCP and he writes for our hormones. Technically, I should have said he is the only PCP who will see trans patients. There are two plastic surgeons that will see us (one of which stopped a few months ago because dealing with trans patients is increasing his malpractice) and one obgyn. I have a neurologist who I am the first trans patient for and I am not entirely sure he would willingly accept another.

I've lived here for 11 years and been active in the trans community here for 8. We all know the doctors who do and don't see us, when they started seeing us, if they are still active, and where they moved to. Over half of my PCP's patients are from out of state because trans patients can't find a doctor who will treat them. Other doctors who say they help the LGBT community, usually do not help T. This is one of the major reasons that I want to go into medicine. By the time I get into medical school and am done with residency, my PCP will be not too far from retirement. He is the type who would not retire until he is sure that his patients are with someone he trusts. Our main difference would be that I use hand cleaner after seeing each patient. 😉

I see. I wasn't thinking about the hormone prescriptions of someone in the process, just merely general health issues that a transgender person would have same as any other human. I could see where some PCPs would be uncomfortable writing those scripts.

GL to you.

 

[EagerToBeMD]

Listen you tool, I'm not berating a pre-med, I'm berating a human being that thinks it's appropriate for a student shadowing a doctor to tell him how to do his job.

It IS appropriate and you saying repeatedly that it's not doesn't make it so. Why don't you try to learn a little something in med school before you spout off your nonsense like an ignorant fool.

And 10 points for reading comprehension fail. This student isn't on a clerkship. It's a pre-med shadowing a doctor in his office. Whoops!

Reverse those 10 points in your direction. I was talking about YOU pretending to know something, not him. YOU haven't reached your clerkships yet, so for you to go on and on about this while claiming a lowly pre-med knows nothing makes you look like a huge hypocrite.

 

[sideways]

It IS appropriate and you saying repeatedly that it's not doesn't make it so. Why don't you try to learn a little something in med school before you spout off your nonsense like an ignorant fool.



Reverse those 10 points in your direction. I was talking about YOU pretending to know something, not him. YOU haven't reached your clerkships yet, so for you to go on and on about this while claiming a lowly pre-med knows nothing makes you look like a huge hypocrite.

Do you realize you sound intoxicated? This is an issue of common-sense, not an issue of what year in medical school you are. A pre-med shadowing a doctor has no place telling the doctor to wash his hands. If you disagree with this, then your parents failed.

 

[The right Path]

Listen you tool, I'm not berating a pre-med, I'm berating a human being that thinks it's appropriate for a student shadowing a doctor to tell him how to do his job.

And 10 points for reading comprehension fail. This student isn't on a clerkship. It's a pre-med shadowing a doctor in his office. Whoops!

How does raising a concern about a valid issue equate to telling a doctor you're shadowing how to do his job? Are you really so socially inept that you can't discuss "sensitive topics" without being a total spazz? Er... I mean... Wow, it sounds like you're really frustrated that some of the posters on this forum don't share the same perspective on shadowing etiquette. It must be so aggravating when your viewpoint is continuously argued against or ignored.

See? Social graces aren't so hard. Though I'll be the first to admit, I'm not above rising to the bait on an internet forum.

 

[EagerToBeMD]

Do you realize you sound intoxicated?

Only to a *****.

This is an issue of common-sense, not an issue of what year in medical school you are.

And the very next sentence...

A pre-med shadowing a doctor has no place telling the doctor to wash his hands.

Contradict yourself much?

If you disagree with this, then your parents failed.

Actually, you failed. You failed to understand what I was saying the first time, now you fail to understand what I'm saying the second time. You get off on berating a pre-med with your med student ego on fast-forward (and that is quite obviously what you were doing, as evidenced by these posts):

If a pre-med was shadowing me and one day walked into my office with a bag of 8 Purell's from Bed, Bath, & Beyond spouting off some nonsense about I noticed you didn't have time to use soap and water . . . I would murder them.

You have a remarkably naive perception of how the world works.

She's actually sending a shiver through me. I haven't started clinicals yet, but she's giving me a glimpse into the potential mentality of some of the nurses I may run across. It's almost a robotic, quasi-religious, adherence to protocol. It's creepy, frankly.

and when you're called on it by someone who actually HAS been on the wards (me), you get defensive and stupid. Just so you know for future reference, if you don't wash your hands on rotations, even if you're in FM clinic seeing diabetics all day, you WILL be called on it (as you should be) and it won't be quite so discrete.

 

[sideways]

^LOL.

Let's try this again: the OP isn't on rotations. They're shadowing. Get it?

 

[EagerToBeMD]

^LOL.

Let's try this again: the OP isn't on rotations. They're shadowing. Get it?

It doesn't matter. What about that don't you get? The point is that a pre-med has every right to speak up about this and you, as a med student, have no right to pretend you're an expert on whether or not pre-meds should speak up while shadowing when you haven't spent a single day on rotations. In other words, you know nothing about how things work on the wards and about clinical medicine, yet you pretend to understand some imaginary hierarchy whereby the OP is a naive pre-med and you're an expert med student who knows how things works in clinic. You're flat-out wrong. And you're a hypocrite.

 

[sideways]

It doesn't matter. What about that don't you get? The point is that a pre-med has every right to speak up about this and you, as a med student, have no right to pretend you're an expert on whether or not pre-meds should speak up while shadowing when you haven't spent a single day on rotations. In other words, you know nothing about how things work on the wards and about clinical medicine, yet you pretend to understand some imaginary hierarchy whereby the OP is a naive pre-med and you're an expert med student who knows how things works in clinic. You're flat-out wrong. And you're a hypocrite.

It's not about medical knowledge - I think you know that, you're just engaged in a not-so-subtle effort to peacock the fact that you're in clinicals and I'm not, so YOU must know everything and I know nothing.

This is about knowing your role. It's not the OPs role to inform the doctor of how to perform their job. Not how to wash, not how to wipe, not how to interact, not how to chart. You seem to think it is - fine. It doesn't surprise me you think this way. Medical school is full of people that don't understand human interaction very well.

 

[Plasticup]

edit: deleted

 

[EagerToBeMD]

It's not about medical knowledge - I think you know that, you're just engaged in a not-so-subtle effort to peacock the fact that you're in clinicals and I'm not, so YOU must know everything and I know nothing.

Funny, that's exactly what you were doing to the pre-med. As I said, reel in your med student ego.

This is about knowing your role. It's not the OPs role to inform the doctor of how to perform their job. Not how to wash, not how to wipe, not how to interact, not how to chart. You seem to think it is - fine.

When did the OP say he wanted to inform the doctor how to preform his job? Never. You can spin it how you want, but you sound more and more ridiculous every time you equate it with that.

It doesn't surprise me you think this way. Medical school is full of people that don't understand human interaction very well.

Ah, once again the ignorant rantings of a fool. This thread alone proves how little you know about human interaction, so why don't you wait until you get to third year before you make statements like the above? LOL

 

[Rendar5]

....this thread has become a prime example of what arguing on the internet makes you look like. Doesn't matter if your'e right or wrong🙄 Well, I'll let myself look the same way for argument's sake.

Still, for everyone going on and on about human interaction, I'm sorry it's not a shadower's role to question the practice of the doctor or make him a better doctor. That can be a patient's role, a parent's role, a resident's role, a nurse's role, a senior med student's role (when one enters into an apprentice-type relationship young padawan).

And to the person who's a TS, I can understanda PCP being hesitant to deal with the medical issues therein. At least as far as hormones and surgery go, but damn the rest of the issues shouldn't be foreign to docs. I'm sorry, there should be more doctors out there who can help you. Out of curiousity, are there any endocrinologists out there who work with ya? Or does ob/gyn take care of that end of things?

 

[TarHeelEMT]

They do live in the community and on you too. I hope you wash your hands everytime you shake someones hands or touch an object in a new room.

I do! Otherwise an army of pre-meds will yell at me.

 

[BigRedder]

Let's just put everyone on contact precautions. That should solve the problem.

 

[Bacchus]

Get back on track. If you want to lash each other go find an empty room or broom closet.

 

[sideways]

Alright, getting back on track, I think if the OP isn't able to successfully convince the doctor to wash his hands, s/he should steal his signature stamp and write for antibiotics to give to the patient when the doctor leaves the room.

 

[drizzt3117]

You do see that from time to time, there's a few senior attendings that I've seen do it on the wards. I just make sure I gel everytime I exit and enter the room, and sometimes they'll start doing it too. It is what it is though. Most of the time they don't touch the pt on rounds anyways. Generally most ppl are pretty good about hand hygeine.

 

[familyaerospace]

I see. I wasn't thinking about the hormone prescriptions of someone in the process, just merely general health issues that a transgender person would have same as any other human. I could see where some PCPs would be uncomfortable writing those scripts.

GL to you.

Actually, most PCPs are uncomfortable with us even if they are not dealing with our hormones and our transition. I've had friends die because doctors simply refused to examine them and their problem turned out to be stage 4 cancer. I talk about this type of treatment in my personal statement.