manual dexterity

[gsinccom]

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Hi ya'll. I've been posting here for a few weeks now and you are all super helpful.

I am leaning towards applying to opt school but am also considering law school as well as a few other options. I've ruled out MD/DO (was considering primary care specialities). I've also ruled out other health professions. One of the reasons I ruled out dentistry was the surgery/manual dexterity qualification. I've never wanted to cut into people and also am unsure how good I'd be at it. I am decent with my fingers but have never been a good boyscout knot tier and am surely no fly(tying)-fisherman. I guess I'm wondering how good does one need to be with their fingers/hands? How hard are the procedures described on page-14 of the following link: (http://www.opted.org/pdf/optCareerGuide.pdf). On many career sites "manual dexterity" is listed as a key skill for studying optometry. I've got manual dexterity but do I have enough? I mean the DAT has a whole section on "manual dexterity". I remember as a pre-med thinking of some pre-dental guys saying they did poorly on that section of the exam and thinking to myself...there is no way that dude is going to work in my mouth🙂
Feedback, please.... 🙂

 

[sco1styear]

Hi ya'll. I've been posting here for a few weeks now and you are all super helpful.

I am leaning towards applying to opt school but am also considering law school as well as a few other options. I've ruled out MD/DO (was considering primary care specialities). I've also ruled out other health professions. One of the reasons I ruled out dentistry was the surgery/manual dexterity qualification. I've never wanted to cut into people and also am unsure how good I'd be at it. I am decent with my fingers but have never been a good boyscout knot tier and am surely no fly-fisherman. I guess I'm wondering how good does one needs to be with their hands? How hard are the procedures described on page-14 of the following link: (http://www.opted.org/pdf/optCareerGuide.pdf). On many career sites "manual dexterity" is listed as a key skill for studying optometry. I've got manual dexterity but do I have enough? I mean the DAT has a whole section on "manual dexterity". I remember as a pre-med thinking of some pre-dental guys saying they did poorly on that section of the exam and thinking to myself...there is no way that dude is going to work in my mouth🙂
Feedback, please.... 🙂

Wow, I never even thought of that part of the job.
I can tell you this...I think that unless you are below average on your "manual dexterity" then you should not have a problem. (I haven't gotten into the techniques such as removing foreign bodies but there have been other tests that do require some dexterity.)
I don't think you should base your decision on whether or not you are dexterous enough because I don't think that will be an issue that you cannot correct with a little practice and concentration.
I've never tied boyscout knots or tried fly fishing...and I'm not worried. 🙂

 

[Eyegirl2k7]

I don't know about manual dexterity since I am pretty clumsy. My saving grace is that I have really steady hands. So even though I drop things, I don't shake doing BIO, etc...unless it's in a practical when I'm nervous.

Eyegirl

 

[cpw]

I've never had shakier hands in my LIFE than when I took the BIO section of the state board exam in Florida. Oh my!!

I never thought I could amount to anything with my left hand, but you do learn with practice. Nothing is going to come really really easy, but it's nothing the average person can't do. (with a few lessons) I'm not saying I can write with my left hand or anything, but I can control a slit lamp, and hold lenses, etc.

I still do all my FB removal with my right hand. I just rest on the patients nose if I have to, usually when they see a syringe/spud coming at their eye they don't care what I tell them I'm doing if it helps me keep my hand steady 😀

 

[Ben Chudner]

I've never had shakier hands in my LIFE than when I took the BIO section of the state board exam in Florida. Oh my!!

Try staying calm on your boards when you open your 20D case and find it empty. I had just returned from a rotation in OK, and one of the instructors needed to use my 20D for a last minute patient on my last day and forgot to put it back in. 😱 So, when it's time to take you boards, remember to check your lenses before you go.

 

[cpw]

Try staying calm on your boards when you open your 20D case and find it empty. I had just returned from a rotation in OK, and one of the instructors needed to use my 20D for a last minute patient on my last day and forgot to put it back in. 😱 So, when it's time to take you boards, remember to check your lenses before you go.

I would have thrown up... 😱

 

[Tom_Stickel]

Hi ya'll. I've been posting here for a few weeks now and you are all super helpful.

I am leaning towards applying to opt school but am also considering law school as well as a few other options. I've ruled out MD/DO (was considering primary care specialities). I've also ruled out other health professions. One of the reasons I ruled out dentistry was the surgery/manual dexterity qualification. I've never wanted to cut into people and also am unsure how good I'd be at it. I am decent with my fingers but have never been a good boyscout knot tier and am surely no fly(tying)-fisherman. I guess I'm wondering how good does one need to be with their fingers/hands? How hard are the procedures described on page-14 of the following link: (http://www.opted.org/pdf/optCareerGuide.pdf). On many career sites "manual dexterity" is listed as a key skill for studying optometry. I've got manual dexterity but do I have enough? I mean the DAT has a whole section on "manual dexterity". I remember as a pre-med thinking of some pre-dental guys saying they did poorly on that section of the exam and thinking to myself...there is no way that dude is going to work in my mouth🙂
Feedback, please.... 🙂

You should read (heck, everybody should read) Atul Gawande's book "Complications". Excellent book for anyone going into any healthcare field.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0312421702/103-4041433-6707846?v=glance

One interesting point he makes is that what really matters for success in procedures of any type isn't natural ability so much as practice, practice, practice. If you know what you're doing, if you have things set up the same way every time, and if you practice, you will be fine. And he's talking about surgeons cutting large things out of people, not ODs doing simple BIO. So don't sweat it.

Tom Stickel
Indiana U. 2001

 

[gsinccom]

what about puntual plugs...how do those compare to removing foreign bodies? what other opt procedures are medical and require manual dexterity?

 

[rpie]

Foreign body removal and punctal plugs require some dexterity but over all not that difficult of a procedure. What’s more challenging is pucntal irrigation and probing, especially when the patient gags on the saline you inject. Gsinc …… relax, you sound like your worrying too much. When you’re in pre-clinic labs you will practice these procedures until you are proficient, and have passed a proficiency examination. I remember working with a student for a week or so because his hands would start to shake after inserting the cannula into the punctum. It took him a while but he made it

 

[Bhartiben Patel]

Optoms can do

collagen plugs, taking pressure with a tonometer, tonography tests, pachymetry tests..

 

[ucbsowarrior]

Hi ya'll. I've been posting here for a few weeks now and you are all super helpful.

I am leaning towards applying to opt school but am also considering law school as well as a few other options. I've ruled out MD/DO (was considering primary care specialities). I've also ruled out other health professions. One of the reasons I ruled out dentistry was the surgery/manual dexterity qualification. I've never wanted to cut into people and also am unsure how good I'd be at it. I am decent with my fingers but have never been a good boyscout knot tier and am surely no fly(tying)-fisherman. I guess I'm wondering how good does one need to be with their fingers/hands? How hard are the procedures described on page-14 of the following link: (http://www.opted.org/pdf/optCareerGuide.pdf). On many career sites "manual dexterity" is listed as a key skill for studying optometry. I've got manual dexterity but do I have enough? I mean the DAT has a whole section on "manual dexterity". I remember as a pre-med thinking of some pre-dental guys saying they did poorly on that section of the exam and thinking to myself...there is no way that dude is going to work in my mouth🙂
Feedback, please.... 🙂

if you can twist open a bottle of beer you'll do fine
if you can't don't even bother going to od school
b/c it wouldn't be worth going out to party with you

 

[gsinccom]

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=3435837#post3435837
anyone else have any more thoughts on pharmacy vs. optometry and/or the manual dexterity needed to be a successful optometrist? I mean don't many people go the OD route cause they never had an interest in surgery?