Know what scares me?

[jace's mom]

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Developing clinical skills. I know I can do the academic stuff. I've done it before, and I can do it again. However, what if I just can't do the clinical procedures? What if my hands aren't sensitive enough? What if I can't feel/hear/smell whatever it is they're telling me is so important? I know that many, many people work in all sorts of fields in the health care industry and do just fine, but I'm worried that I physically will not have the ability, the finesse, to do the job.

See what I worry about when I wake up too early on a Saturday? 🙄

 

[oldpro]

Developing clinical skills. I know I can do the academic stuff. I've done it before, and I can do it again. However, what if I just can't do the clinical procedures? What if my hands aren't sensitive enough? What if I can't feel/hear/smell whatever it is they're telling me is so important? I know that many, many people work in all sorts of fields in the health care industry and do just fine, but I'm worried that I physically will not have the ability, the finesse, to do the job.

See what I worry about when I wake up too early on a Saturday? 🙄

I think the Clinical skills scares everyone at some point. But through practice and forethought you get very good at em.

 

[lilnoelle]

What scares me.... I can be sort of clutsy. I can do fine motor skills with great finess... but gross skills.... I'm afraid I'm gonna end up accidently tripping over someone's life support sometime...

 

[MiesVanDerMom]

What scares me.... I can be sort of clutsy. I can do fine motor skills with great finess... but gross skills.... I'm afraid I'm gonna end up accidently tripping over someone's life support sometime...

I am VERY clumsy. I shadowed surgeons back when I was in college (took me a while to realize clumsy people shoulnd't be neurosurgeons. can you imagine? I am no longer pre-surgery...) Anyway, I spent a lot of time in the OR and more than once knocked over a tray of sterile instruments! One time a nurse yelled at me, but then she apologized afterwards which I thought was really nice. here I am a useless pre-med, contaminating the OR 🙁 My fine and my gross are bad, as is my hand-eye coordination. I guess I'm just hoping the Holy Spirit will guide my hands for the next few decades 😕

 

[lilnoelle]

originally I thought I could do surgery because of my great fine motor skills.... however, I'm pretty sure I need good control of my gross motor skills too. My poor husband... I end up stepping on the back of his shoes, or hitting him one way or another on accident if I stay to close to him when I walk or talk. (wild hand motions can be dangerous)haha... needless to say, he's learned to stay a little distance from me. Its quite frightening really... that someone as clumsy as me will be doing physicals. I don't think anything life and death will be problematic for me, because most of that involves fine motor skills. But I'll most likely sideswipe someone in the halls, etc.

 

[chrisjohn]

None of you must work around physicians. You'd know they tend to be bumbly for the most part.

Don't worry about it. If you really want to be good, you'll practice enough to become facile.

 

[DrMom]

I'm a klutz, but I've not had any problems on rotations..I just try to pay attention so that I don't drop, trip over, hit something, etc.

Also, practice gets you a long way on the clinical skills. That's what MS3 is all about. 🙂

 

[oldpro]

None of you must work around physicians. You'd know they tend to be bumbly for the most part.

Don't worry about it. If you really want to be good, you'll practice enough to become facile.

LOL I'm an RN (High tech and Hospice) I've placed PICC lines and IV's and done other sensitive proceedures, the scarry, hope this goes right, feeling never quite leaves me after all these years but it has lessen a lot! Thats what stimulates me so much in practice! Doing what few can do! 😀

 

[runningmom]

Anyway, I spent a lot of time in the OR and more than once knocked over a tray of sterile instruments! One time a nurse yelled at me, but then she apologized afterwards which I thought was really nice. here I am a useless pre-med, contaminating the OR 🙁

This had me LOL. I haven't done it yet, but I always am afraid I will.

 

[cfdavid]

While watching a surgical procedure on the web, one of the surgeons addressed a question relative to dexterity etc. It was his opinion that a surgeon doesn't really need to have the stereotypical "steady hand". He said that any mild shaking would be fine or could be compensated by a forearm support or something etc.

Not sure how universally true this is, but it was this guys opinion.

 

[njbmd]

Developing clinical skills. I know I can do the academic stuff. I've done it before, and I can do it again. However, what if I just can't do the clinical procedures? What if my hands aren't sensitive enough? What if I can't feel/hear/smell whatever it is they're telling me is so important? I know that many, many people work in all sorts of fields in the health care industry and do just fine, but I'm worried that I physically will not have the ability, the finesse, to do the job.

See what I worry about when I wake up too early on a Saturday? 🙄

Hi there,
Do you remember when you changed your first diaper? How did you know that it needed to be changed? Were your hands sensitive enough? It was something that you knew needed to be done and you got it done.

Performing clinically is going to be along the same lines. When the time comes, you will have practiced (on yourself, on your fellow students, on your kids, on your pets) and you will be able to feel, see, hear and otherwise figure out what to do.

Some things like using an opthalmoscope take practice but most things take a bit of educated experience. After your lectures in physical diagnosis, you will have an general idea of what needs to be done. In the beginning, you WILL miss some things but you are not the final word. In the beginning, a more experienced person will review your exam.

I can't tell you how many hernias I missed when I was a medical student. It was a good thing my resident was there to check behind me. Now, I have the experience not to miss any hernias. Mind you, it took five years for me to get to this point.

Use your Saturday mornings to sleep in and enjoy life. You will have the skills when you need to have them. Becoming a physician is a life-long process and you have loads of time. You really WILL get the hang of doing things clinically and it will be practically painless.

njbmd 🙂

 

[Wackie]

You lack the education and practice behind all of those clinical skills, so don't worry about it. If you find you have troubles, do some extra practicing.

You're lucky if the academic stuff comes easily. That's the part I worry about