How can surgeons cut open people's chests and do transplants without feeling sick?

Question

How come these people don't get queezy when they cut people open? I am a 2nd year med student who is just starting to study surguries. But I get sick every time I watch the doctor cut someone open. How can I overcome this?

Answer 1

Those who feel queasy initially get used to it eventually. Those who do not get over it chose not to be surgeons. Some of us never got queasy. I think it's a cultural thing and in many communities "feeling queasy" is not really an issue.

Answer 2

some people get queasy by seeing people's insides, and some don't. i wouldn't worry about it too much.since ur only just starting to study surgeries, it might just be that u need some time to get used to it. also, like other people said, u could probably talk to someone at the school about it, maybe one of ur professors or a surgeon or even another med student. im sure ur not the only one who feels queasy by it. and, like others said, surgery just might not be ur speciality.
since ur a 2nd year med student, im assuming u haven't started actual rotations yet. so maybe in ur 3rd yr when u are on the surgery service, u will become more comfortable with cutting people open.

Answer 3

Well, honestly inorder to overcome it, your going to have to just basically be a real man (even if your a woman thats ok) in the sense of fighting your fears. But eventually you will get over it. By the way did you know that you can talk to your sugical instructors on how to cope with this problem? there are numerous people that can help you, and just to let you know they can not kick you out for having this problem because they have already invested so much time and especially money into you that they are now at this point do anything to keep you in the program. My suggestions talk to your instrucor or a psychiatrist not because your a psycho or because your mentally instable but because they are probably your best bet in finding your triggers and help inhibit it inorder for you not to feel so disgusted when you are learning.

Answer 4

Surgeons love that stuff. They get a rush out of opening someone's chest. (It IS cool to see a beating heart, don't you think?)

You're just going to have to get over it. Once you're through your surgical rotation, you won't have to deal with surgery much, if at all.

If you feel queasy in the OR, remember to sit down before you fall over. You could hurt yourself or contaminate the sterile field (and that would REALLY p*** the OR staff off)

If the surgery residents find out that you get sick in the OR, your life during your surgical rotation will be hell. (You'll find yourself in dead bowel cases, or something else gross. You haven't lived until you've smelled gangrenous intestines. It makes even the hardiest of us sick.)

Good luck. Just keep in mind that you have a nice office to look forward to some day, and that we all suffered with rotations we hated, too. (I'd prefer a sharp poke in the eye to internal medicine rounds. THAT makes me vomit.)

Answer 5

I would think it would be cool becuase, overtime the get use to it and enjoy it, to me when I do start rotations, I will motivate myself to help this person, check this out

Answer 6

realize that if the doc doesnt do it then who will. Its a matter of life and death. You are helping someone out and possibly saving their life. Or maybe surgery isnt your speciality.

Answer 7

Try to remember that it's the patient who has the problem. As long as it isn't your chest that's fianchettoed open, it isn't your problem. It's called professional detachment.

Answer 8

The same way you got through cadaver dissections in gross anatomy... exposure and desensitization. The more you see, the easier it gets.

Answer 9

Just think, some people actually like that kind of stuff(like me)...and the money helps too.

Answer 10

You have to get used to it.