All You Lefty's Out there....

Nurses General Nursing

Published

  1. Are You Left Handed?

    • 28
      Left Handed
    • 6
      Right Handed
    • 5
      Ambidextrous - Use both left and right

39 members have participated

:coollook: Just out of curiosity, how many of you nurses out there are left handed?
Specializes in ER/Trauma.

Hmm, on the topic: Do we have a poll here? How many lefties and how many right?

Can barely walk and talk at the same time
You reminded me of a joke one of the wiseacres in my platoon made about the Top Sergeant :lol2:

After being hissed at by the Sarge to be quiet in ranks while on the march, one of the newer additions to our platoon asked what his deal was. The assistant gunner whispered that "Oh he's just jealous because he can't walk and talk at the same time" :rotfl:

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in NICU.
I'm kinda goofy with my handedness.

Write: Left

Hold a fork: Left

Kick a ball: Right

Throw a ball/hold a bat: Right

But here's the really weird one.

Sticking (IV's, phlebotomy, etc): Right

You can imagine how disconcerting it is to a patient when they see me writing something with my left hand, then coming at them with a needle in my right hand a few minutes later.

I've noticed that when I'm doing new procedures (inline suctioning, etc), it takes me a few tries to figure out which hand goes where.

I'm the same way! There's some procedures that I do with my right hand, some that I do with my left .... and if it's something new it takes me a while to figure out which hand holds what and does what.

And like I mentioned before ..... I use my right hand to cut with scissors. So when the elementary teachers would say "raise your hand if you're left-handed"...... I would proceed to raise my hand, then she'd give me left-handed scissors. It wasn't easy using left-handed scissors with my right hand!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in NICU, Infection Control.

Lefty. Pretty much everything. My grandmother claimed she couldn't teach me to knit lefty, so made me do it righthanded. If someone holds a gun to my head, I'll knit, otherwise, forget-about-it.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
And like I mentioned before ..... I use my right hand to cut with scissors. So when the elementary teachers would say "raise your hand if you're left-handed"...... I would proceed to raise my hand, then she'd give me left-handed scissors. It wasn't easy using left-handed scissors with my right hand!

I'm a righty when it comes to scissors now, but when I was little I used to try to switch hands (without switching scissors) when my fingers got tired. As a result, I couldn't cut worth a flip with either one.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
And like I mentioned before ..... I use my right hand to cut with scissors. So when the elementary teachers would say "raise your hand if you're left-handed"...... I would proceed to raise my hand, then she'd give me left-handed scissors. It wasn't easy using left-handed scissors with my right hand!

My mother tried to help me out by getting me a pair of left-handed scissors. I couldn't use them, except in my right hand.

I thought I was pretty ambidextrous (and I think most southpaws have to be, out of necessity), but then I took a test in a book, which told me I was strongly left-handed.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in ED, ICU, PSYCH, PP, CEN.

I'm a lefty too. Used to work out in the real world and was always odd lady out as a lefty. Was amazed when entered into healthcare at the sea of leftys. Then I knew I should have become a nurse years ago. I write, bowl, golf, do most things left handed, but by necessity have learned and am comfortable doing a lot of things right handed. Deciding which hand to start an IV with was the hardest decision. I was at work in a physical therapy clinic bemoaning this fact one day when one of the patients asked me which hand I would thread a needle with. Went home and did this and "voila" I now start IVs left handed. Many thanks to the "old, but wise guy". Almost every person on my night shift in the ER is left handed. Of course we are the "A TEAM" at least in our own minds.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Telemetry/Med Surg.

me!!!!

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Most frustrating problem is when I have to share a computer. Usually the mouse string isn't even long enough to pull it over onto the left side, and then I have to remember that the buttons are reversed. I once shared a computer in an office with another nurse, and when that nurse left I changed the settings for me. The right-handed nurse who replaced her was confounded on a daily basis as to how to use my (now) left-handed computer. Sadly, I had no sympathy. I've been adapting all my life.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in NICU, Infection Control.

I'm actually more comfortable using my computer right-handed. Then, if I need to write something down, or answer the phone, I do it w/my left hand.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in ER/Trauma.
I'm actually more comfortable using my computer right-handed.
Ditto - I can run it both left or right...
Up Vote Up Vote ×

I'm left handed and very left side dominant...i need the computer mouse over to my left hand, the telephone to my left ear etc...

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Ditto - I can run it both left or right...

I tried the mouse on the right--once--and it's like trying to scratch your armpit with your elbow. Just doesn't work. :)

Phone used to be in the left ear until I had a serious ear infection as a teenager; now it's always on the right.

Knife goes in the right hand when I'm also holding a fork, otherwise it goes in the left. Fork is always in the left. None of that fork-switching foolishness.

Being left-handed sometimes works out well in the clinical setting. If you're doing a procedure with a colleague that requires you to be on opposite sides of the bed, you're perfectly matched. Even a simple pull-up works well.

Went to lunch recently with someone who made a big deal about making me climb over her to get to my seat--"because I'm left handed." She didn't realize that I am, too.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Add a Comment