Patient Contact Question

[ITGUY33]

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Hello forum friends,

I am a pre-med very interested in Radiology, but I don't know how I will be with direct patient contact. Now don't get me wrong, I really enjoy talking to and getting to know people that I have never met, but I don't know how it will be when I am caring for them on such a personal level. I sit and think about med school and wonder if I will be able to handle the pateint contact portion of it. I know this really sounds bad the way it is coming out but please don't take it that way. I am very much a people person, but I feel like it's different when you start thinking of being a people person on that level. Am I crazy for this thinking process or has anyone else felt this way? I have never had any dealings with the healthcare industry unless I or someone I care about have been in the hospital or physician's office so there's also that little bit of "phobia" of hospitals and such. I have volunteered for about 40hrs and did pretty well with things, but that was in the ER as a "patient friend".

Please let me know if anyone else has had these kind of feeling before and what did you do to get past them? Thanks so much for taking time to read.

 

[digitlnoize]

I was in a similar boat when I started a few years ago. Now that I've gotten some patient contact (you need to do that to get into med school btw)...It's pretty cool.

I still hate being puked on as much as the next guy, but you can usually jump out of the way...and for the most part...it's cool.

Go try it. If you hate it, then worry about your decision. Give yourself, say, 1 month to acclimate.

 

[patzan]

Radiologists have perhaps the least amount of patient contact among physicians (except, perhaps, pathology), so it's good that you're interested in radiology. For those who do want contact, there is plenty with IR and other procedures.

Your problem will be getting good enough grades through med school to be competitive enough for radiology, if it bothers you that much.