Which doctor does not have to deal with poop, sputun, spit, stool?

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ForumHangout

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I have a possible interest in becoming a doctor, but I do not want to deal with these 4 things or other things like them because they gross me out. Which doctor do not have to deal with these things in their entire career?... and if you were similar to me, once you narrowed down all the specialty that do not deal with these things, how did you pick among the remaining specialty?
 
I'd also guess that if one can't handle these before applying, chances are you don't have much clinical experience and you likelihood of acceptance would be low anyways.
 
jsquared91 said:
I'd also guess that if one can't handle these before applying, chances are you don't have much clinical experience and you likelihood of acceptance would be low anyways.
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🙄

You don't know the first thing about OP or applying to medical school. If you did you'd realize clinical experience is obv vital but only one factor in the application.

I need to come up with a name for you pre-meds who, based on one post, assert the poster isn't fit for medical school. It's just douchey.
 
I don't see what's wrong with the OP if he knows that temporarily he will have to deal with it. Medicine in general is a messy profession, but there are plenty of specialties that don't deal with getting poop on them. Diagnostic rad, rad onc, oncology(?), psychiatry (one hopes), ENT etc. spit is a bit harder to avoid, OP might be able to suck it up a bit on that one.
 
You're going to have to deal with those things, at the very least, while you're training.
 
Are you cool with pus? urine?

Urology might be an option.

ENT is going to spit & sputum-city. What do you think you'll find in the nose and throat? Sucking it up is a punny solution.



Preventive Medicine could assure you a desk job with no body fluid contact but you won't get there without going through medical school training and perhaps an internship year in rivers of fluids.
http://www.acpm.org/?GME_MedStudents#STRUCTURE
 
ForumHangout said:
I have a possible interest in becoming a doctor, but I do not want to deal with these 4 things or other things like them because they gross me out. Which doctor do not have to deal with these things in their entire career?... and if you were similar to me, once you narrowed down all the specialty that do not deal with these things, how did you pick among the remaining specialty?
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22759705_SA.jpg

a doctor of love
although that might not be true, depending what you're into.
 
LizzyM said:
Are you cool with pus? urine?

Urology might be an option.

ENT is going to spit & sputum-city. What do you think you'll find in the nose and throat? Sucking it up is a punny solution.



Preventive Medicine could assure you a desk job with no body fluid contact but you won't get there without going through medical school training and perhaps an internship year in rivers of fluids.
http://www.acpm.org/?GME_MedStudents#STRUCTURE
Click to expand...
Truth. I think that some people are grossed out by a bunch of stuff and then get over (some) of the things that gross them out. Spit and snot never grossed me out but I can understand poop (even though I don't really mind all that much, the smell is probably pretty bad).

Initially I was kind of grossed out by eye surgery but the more surgeries I watch the less gross/weird it is. Maybe OP should try "flooding" to get over his aversions 😛.
 
ForumHangout said:
Which doctor does not have to deal with poop, sputun, spit, stool?

I do not want to deal with these 4 things or other things like them because they gross me out. Which doctor do not have to deal with these things in their entire career?
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Body fluids are not "gross" if they come from tiny, cute babies. Maybe because we rebrand them to be called duties, drool, spit up, and pee. Perhaps you are meant to be a neonatologist.

/career search
 
I realize some people are ultra sensitive to this kind of thing. Seriously though, after a while, it really becomes the very least of one's stress.
I've been completely saturated w/ blood--under my bra and seeping down into my panties--b/c in critical care, you get some number of patients that like to go into DIC or have some kind of coagulopathy going on, and it's just not easy, or even possible to stop the flow. And the more you do for them in those settings, the more risk of exposure--intubation, IVs, ABGS, Art lines, various other catheters. What are you gonna do? No kidding. It happens. Over the years, this kind of stuff comes up, but people usually end up alright. Doesn't mean be careless. Just means that exposure is a risk, so you be careful; but also, the longer you work around it, the higher the probability that you may get some on you. LOL You get over it.
 
Catalystik said:
Body fluids are not "gross" if they come from tiny, cute babies. Maybe because we rebrand them to be called duties, drool, spit up, and pee. Perhaps you are meant to be a neonatologist.

/career search
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I love kids and babies, but I have also seen some nasty stuff come out of them if they are sick enough. Sometimes they are born with nasty stuff like gastroschisis.

So maybe non-interventional radiology?
 
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If you were to become any kind of doctor, you would probably get grossed out eventually, that is according to the things you said you can't deal with. If you really want to pursue a career in medicine and eventually become a physician, you should face these things. Personally, I don't get grossed out by anything. If I knew the secret I would share but I don't. Good luck.
 
ForumHangout said:
I do not want to deal with these 4 things or other things like them because they gross me out.
Click to expand...

You can be trained out of this. Get more exposure and face your fears, if you're actually serious about pursuing medicine. Bodily excretions, in general, gross people out, if they're not used to seeing/experiencing them often. You're trained in your early years to think this way, but you can overcome these trained reactions through habituation.

Pro tip: Shadow a uro doc in the OR and stand directly behind him when he's taking out the cath.
 
My troll-meter is going off, but I'll respond anyway because squeamishness is a real concern for lots of pre-meds.

Even if you go into radiology, all bodily fluids are part of the job description as a med student/resident. That includes stool/feces/poop, sputum, spit, projectile vomit, pus, urine, blood, and so, so, so much more. If you're not game for that, and then some, then you'll have to either choose a different career path or shadow a lot more physicians until you get used to it.

There are lots of resources online about how to conquer squeamishness as a med student-- it's actually quite common. I'm an aspiring surgeon who used to faint at the sight of blood/broken bones/needles/everything medical, but quickly got over it after taking a job working in the OR. Now, absolutely nothing phases me (from a squeamishness perspective, anyway), so it is definitely something that can be overcome if you are truly motivated to become a physician.
 
ab_kaka8 said:
If you were to become any kind of doctor, you would probably get grossed out eventually, that is according to the things you said you can't deal with. If you really want to pursue a career in medicine and eventually become a physician, you should face these things. Personally, I don't get grossed out by anything. If I knew the secret I would share but I don't. Good luck.
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Yea for most in the clinical healthcare setting, it's enough exposure over time. It also helps if you can see the dire need the patient is in, and so, you push aside your distaste for the nasty and forge ahead for the patient. I think that's an important aspect of treating patients. The focus becomes so much on them, especially if they are near-coding or coding or in the midst of 2nd or 3rd stages of labor. . .something like that.

I would think of all docs, diagnostic (non-interventional) radiologist would have the most limited patient contact.
 
ForumHangout said:
I have a possible interest in becoming a doctor, but I do not want to deal with these 4 things or other things like them because they gross me out. Which doctor do not have to deal with these things in their entire career?... and if you were similar to me, once you narrowed down all the specialty that do not deal with these things, how did you pick among the remaining specialty?
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You won't find any, because those individuals know they can't go into medicine. Neither can you, unfortunately.
 
ZedsDed said:
You won't find any, because those individuals know they can't go into medicine. Neither can you, unfortunately.
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Tad harsh. He/she/it has some work to do, but he/she/it may still make a great physician!
 
StudyLater said:
Tad harsh. He/she/it has some work to do, but he/she/it may still make a great physician!
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I'm being harsh because it's a ridiculous question that shows immaturity. I could've been nicer I guess
 
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ForumHangout said:
I have a possible interest in becoming a doctor, but I do not want to deal with these 4 things or other things like them because they gross me out. Which doctor do not have to deal with these things in their entire career?... and if you were similar to me, once you narrowed down all the specialty that do not deal with these things, how did you pick among the remaining specialty?
Click to expand...
Ortho... though spine has to do rectal exam to assess injuries
 
Alright thanks... for the answer guys. At first I thought I could avoid it by becoming a physician which doesn't deal with these things but it looks like every physician does.
 
Yep - every physician will deal with these things at some point. There are some specialties which deal with it less, but you do need to realize that the path to those specialties is laced with all manner of bodily fluids.
 
ForumHangout said:
Alright thanks... for the answer guys. At first I thought I could avoid it by becoming a physician which doesn't deal with these things but it looks like every physician does.
Click to expand...

All you need to know is that your fears are not as big a deal as you might think and they can certainly be overcome. Then you can make your decision from there.
 
massmocha said:
Ortho... though spine has to do rectal exam to assess injuries
Click to expand...

Funny you should mention ortho... I once knew a 5th year ortho resident who got called from home in the middle of the night to disimpact an elbow patient. When the resident arrived, irked and sleep deprived, they asked why they were called in for that. The staff replied that they were uncomfortable with performing the procedure as it was 'out of their realm of expertise'. This resident was the kindest person imaginable, but I was expecting them to have a fit. Amazingly, the resident did it with a smile because they were in the process of applying for a competitive fellowship at that hospital and didn't want to rock the boat... So from then on, that poor resident was disimpacting practically every patient in that teaching hospital until they matched into that fellowship. 😕
 
An English PhD.
 
I guess you could go to OD school, you'd only ever have to do eyes (even in school) but those can get gunky and you really just shouldn't be a doctor if you get grossed out so easily.
 
MPHOrtho13 said:
Funny you should mention ortho... I once knew a 5th year ortho resident who got called from home in the middle of the night to disimpact an elbow patient. When the resident arrived, irked and sleep deprived, they asked why they were called in for that. The staff replied that they were uncomfortable with performing the procedure as it was 'out of their realm of expertise'. This resident was the kindest person imaginable, but I was expecting them to have a fit. Amazingly, the resident did it with a smile because they were in the process of applying for a competitive fellowship at that hospital and didn't want to rock the boat... So from then on, that poor resident was disimpacting practically every patient in that teaching hospital until they matched into that fellowship. 😕
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That blows, sounds like a good guy
 
There's nothing like an ER doc lubing up his gloved finger and going in for the manual fecal disimpaction.

Realistically, you shouldn't go into medicine if bodily fluids gross you out to the point where you can't function around them. It's fine if they are gross to you, they are gross to everyone. No one likes purulent drainage coming out of a Bartholin's cyst. It sounds like you need some clinical experience! You get used to it after a while.
 
Psych or Endocrinology would be least likely.

Diagnostic Radiologists still do procedures involving all of the above body fluids.
 
MPHOrtho13 said:
Funny you should mention ortho... I once knew a 5th year ortho resident who got called from home in the middle of the night to disimpact an elbow patient. When the resident arrived, irked and sleep deprived, they asked why they were called in for that. The staff replied that they were uncomfortable with performing the procedure as it was 'out of their realm of expertise'. This resident was the kindest person imaginable, but I was expecting them to have a fit. Amazingly, the resident did it with a smile because they were in the process of applying for a competitive fellowship at that hospital and didn't want to rock the boat... So from then on, that poor resident was disimpacting practically every patient in that teaching hospital until they matched into that fellowship. 😕
Click to expand...

Once again, it is the nice, quiet ones who get s**t on. (In this case literally.)
 
DrBowtie said:
Psych or Endocrinology would be least likely.

Diagnostic Radiologists still do procedures involving all of the above body fluids.
Click to expand...


Perhaps somewhat in training; but it's rare, especially relatively speaking. Ask most ED docs. Oh, no. We better not go there.
 
People who worry about body spooges don't realize how many truly disgusting things will happen to just the outer layer of the average moderately obese American, come middle age. This is a huge gap in our public education.
 
On my first day of ob/gyn rotation, I was crossing the delivery room trying to get to my corner when the patient's water broke with explosive force and soaked my scrub pants through. Then the attending came in, looked at me, and asked if I'd been thrown up on. 👍

Cool with amniotic fluid, OP?
 
Possibly family medicine? But the other day, I was shadowing a family med doctor, and she had to deal with a semen sample.
 
When I took physio lab in undergrad the professor had us handle cockroaches with our bare hands insisting that if we were too squeamish for that, then we will never make it as physicians and shouldn't even apply to medical school.
 
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