Have you experienced bias from being a left-handed Nurse?

[Hopetoheal]

I am currently doing research for a paper in my Pre-Req English Comp class. It is about the difficulties faced by the left handed college student and that of left handed Nurses. Can anyone please elaborate on the difficulties you have faced as a left handed nursing student or as a practicing left handed nurse? Did you feel there was any discrimination or bias toward your handedness? Were you able to use right handed equipment efficiently?

Any and all input will be greatly appreciated. So all you lefties out there, here is your time to speak up.

Thanks Everybody!

[Purple_Scrubs, BSN, RN]

I learned IV starts from a great lefty nurse who was the go-to guy for tough sticks. Made a world of difference for me and I made sure the floor knew that he should be the one to teach any future lefty nurse or student they come across! I would have loved to have him teach me every skill.

I guess it would be nice to be accomodated more, but I certainly don't see left handedness as a disability, just a difference. I think having the challenges of living in a lefty world is part of what made me who I am and I don't know if I would want to be accomodated 100%.

[Imafloat, BSN, RN]

I work in the NICU, when I am getting labs or a blood gas on a baby, I have to go to the other side of the bed to get my gas/labs, because I couldn't get a good angle. I have learned how to change diapers right handed. I haven't experienced any bias over my 'handedness.'

[Flare, ASN, BSN]

I don't think of it as any type of bias, nor do i feel that I need accomodation. Honestly, I think the world has become way to dependent of expecting everyone else to accomodate them. Some people think the things that make them unique or different somehow also make them more entitled. Granted - I agree that there should be reasonable accomodations made in situations requiring them, but not everyone NEEDS it. Lefties included. I'll quietly live my life, accomodating myself when necessary. As long as i have my left handed scissors, i'll be fine.

[Blackheartednurse]

Well I dont know but I'm weird in a way that I'm both right and left handed...some people notice how I do one thing with a left hand and the other with a right leg....seriously like I write with my R hand but I kick ball with L and also I do some chores with a L hand,crazy right> I never came across any mocking people just seem surprised>!

[Mandylou]

Apart from being told how awkward I look when I do stuff, and having to figure out which hand I prefer doing injections/drawing blood/inserting IVs etc, no real problems. I'm so used to using R handed scissors, I can't use my left hand to cut now! I am reasonably ambidextrous which is annoying as I have to do things with both hands until I decide which is better for a certain task.

I do the same thing! I switch back and forth until one hand feels more comfortable. I do this with IV starts (usually pick my right hand), most procedures, even bowling! I also felt like a weirdo especially when people are watching. I usually tell people when I am starting their IV right handed, "Would it bother you to know I am left handed?" I usually get a laugh and distract them for a sec.

When I write my name on the dry erase board I often get the comment, "Oh no, a lefty!"

[mamamerlee, LPN]

Although I am right-handed, I learned to start IVs either way - sometimes it's a matter of need. I have also put in a few foleys with my left hand, rather than move furniture in the home-health setting.

[Hopetoheal]

My mom took me to the left handed museum in Indianapolis as a kid.....and it was like heaven. Best field trip ever!

I'm in clinicals, so I make sure I stand directly across from my instructor during demonstrations. It's a handy trick I learned from my aunt - it's like a mirror image, so I can mimic the instructor's right hand easier with my left.

I also make sure I stand on the opposite side of the bed. I failed a skills checkoff because my positioning was so awkward, it looked like I didn't know what I was doing. For my second attempt I made sure to flip everything around, and I was fine. I have to stand on the opposite side of the bed to do catheters - otherwise my sterile field goes bye bye lol

Maybe once I become an experienced nurse I can learn to be ambidextrous....but until then, I don't trust my right hand for the important stuff.

I'm from Indiana and never realized there was a Left Handed Museum.I will have to see that sometime. Great advice on the mirroring technique. Thank you!

[Reese17]

This question is so funny to me...I never thought someone would ask this...but I have experienced bias. My clinical instructor was demonstrating how to perform a suction technique and I had never done it before. She got so upset when It seemed to her I wasnt putting my gloves on correctly or holding the tubing the way she wanted. I still cant understand why she got so upset. Other than that I havent had any real problems being a leftie. Oh, except the desk, that is a real pain!:heartbeat

[Hopetoheal]

This question is so funny to me...I never thought someone would ask this...but I have experienced bias. My clinical instructor was demonstrating how to perform a suction technique and I had never done it before. She got so upset when It seemed to her I wasnt putting my gloves on correctly or holding the tubing the way she wanted. I still cant understand why she got so upset. Other than that I havent had any real problems being a leftie. Oh, except the desk, that is a real pain!:heartbeat

This seems to be a topic that gets swept under the rug most of the time. I think the majority of us lefties are so used to this kind of behavior that we don't always recognize it or we often choose to ignore it when we see it. I have done massive research on this subject and it is there. You would be surprised that to this day there are still no modifications of school desks even though they promote injury to left handed students.

Thank you so much for sharing and for not being afraid to admit there is some bias out there.

Can you tell us how you did learn your suction technique in case someone else is struggling with this? Thanks!

[bkeene]

The scissors....i hate working with the rigth handed scissors. That's actually how I found this page, I was doing a search for lefty scissors..none of them are the pretty kind though, it's all silver. Anybody know of any site that have a colored handle on the scissors?